The Kallakurichi district police have started installing Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) to cover all the statues of leaders as part of enhancing security and to prevent the statues from being desecrated.
Kallakurichi district, encompassing three police sub-divisions -- Kallakurichi, Ulundurpet and Tirukovilur has about 120 statues of leaders. The statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Periyar, former Chief Ministers, C.N. Annadurai, M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa are located in both public and private places.
The district police, with the cooperation of political parties and sponsors, have started erecting grills around the statues to protect them from vandals in the wake of the desecration of statues of some of the leaders.
“The exercise started last year and covered all the 120 statues. Now we have started the installation of CCTVs to safeguard them and have covered 10 statues so far,” Superintendent of Police Ziaul Haque told The Hindu.
“The police department coordinated with local residents, private parties and sponsors to cover the statues. The high-resolution cameras installed near the statues have also been integrated with the police control room. The surveillance will not only act as a strong deterrent to keep miscreants at bay but will also help the police in the event of law and order or incidents of crime,” Mr. Haque said.
Over 500 police personnel in the rank of Special Sub-Inspector, Head Constable and Grade I constable have been appointed as Village Vigilance Police Officers (VVPOs). They will be in charge of 562 mother villages and hamlets coming under the three police sub-divisions and resolve basic issues.
The VVPOs will also prevail upon local residnets who can afford to install CCTVs as part of an initiative to make the hamlets safe, Mr. Haque added.