Mumbai which is already under CCTV surveillance with 4,746 cameras installed at main roads and traffic junctions, the city will soon get additional 5,500 cameras which will take the total up to 10,000.
According to Mumbai Mirror, the proposal to purchase these 5,500 cameras worth Rs 300 crore will be tabled before the state cabinet today. The Maharashtra government in its Phase I installed 4,746 cameras which were made operational in October 2016. These CCTV cameras helped in identifying traffic violators, those indulging in street crimes, and in cracking house break-in and murder cases.
Retired Additional Chief Secretary (Home) KP Bakshi, who was one of the heads of the project’s Phase I, told the leading daily, “The feedback received over the past two years shows that the CCTV cameras help in faster detection of crime, and on several instances, have helped prevent the crime due to timely intervention of the police. The government needs to put this project on the fast-forward mode and bureaucratic delays must be tackled at the highest level.” The state government with this additional 5,500 CCTV cameras plan to bring bylanes, blind spots, areas around slums, and spots where several cases of crime against women and children have been reported under surveillance.