More govt departments in Gurugram to be linked to CCTV cameras

GURUGRAM: To bring about a better “monitoring and management” of work, more departments in the city are to be linked to GMDA’s Wide Smart Surveillance System, through CCTV cameras.
Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal gave instructions at a meeting held through video conferencing from Chandigarh on Friday to review the surveillance system in Gurugram, Faridabad, and Karnal.
In the first phase of the surveillance system, the GMDA has installed 1,200 CCTV cameras at 222 locations – 191 in Gurugram and 31 in Manesar. These cameras have the facility of automated number plate recognition and red light violation detection. Apart from traffic management, they are currently being used by police for crime control, with registration numbers of stolen vehicles and photos of wanted criminals being fed into the system, which then helps to trace them out.
During the meeting on Friday, the chief secretary pointed out that while the police department is making full use of this system, other departments also need to connect their offices. He directed officials to prepare a list of the departments currently using the system, as well as those that can use it for better monitoring and management in the future. He also suggested the use of drone cameras for “crowd management and surveillance” on the national highway in Gurugram.
“Gurugram has taken the form of a big metropolis, hence for crowd management and surveillance on the national highway, drone cameras can be used. These cameras can also be connected with this integrated surveillance system,” said Kaushal.
Responding to this, the chief executive officer (CEO) of GMDA, Sudhir Rajpal said that the GMDA has already “experimented” on the subject and conducted surveillance on National Highway 48 (NH-8) using drone cameras, which was “successful”.
Apart from the Gurugram police, the city’s surveillance system is currently being used to monitor the city buses of the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL), waterlogging, and environment and pollution related issues. Gurugram deputy commissioner, Nishant Kumar Yadav suggested at the meeting that the system can also be useful in monitoring power supply, solid waste management, drinking water, and the sewerage system.