Police seek more CCTV cameras to check crime

Ludhiana: Worried about uptick in crime cases, city police has raised the demand for more cameras at new locations and expediting of work at locations which already approved under the Smart City mission. In a letter to the MC commissioner and chief executive officer (CEO), Ludhiana Smart City Mission Shena Aggarwal, police commissioner Kaustubh Sharma underlined the need for such cameras.
The letter to the MC commissioner said that already, CCTV cameras had been installed at 159 locations. However, the city had changed rapidly over the past few years with new projects coming up at multiple places. New bridges and roads had been constructed but these had not been covered properly. Many of these locations were busy places and existing cameras were not well equipped enough to cover them properly. There was a requirement of at least 94 fixed cameras, 12 automatic number plate recognition cameras and 20 more poles.
It was pointed out that with the expansion of the city, cases of crime had increased but cameras installed under the safe city project were unable to cover the routes followed by criminals. This had made it difficult to trace them and crack crime cases. Apart from the 159 locations already assigned, 50 new sites had been proposed but police required 304 fixed cameras, 40 ANPR cameras and a few poles at these locations. A total of 300 new cameras were approved at 100 sites under the Ludhiana Smart City mission project. The CP office had approved 47 sites where 257 fixed cameras, 30 pan tilt zoom (PTZ) cameras and 79 poles would be installed, with work starting as soon as possible.
Civic officials said they were already working on the project to give coverage to the mini secretariat and court complex with the help of CCTV cameras. This project has been transferred to the MC because they cannot take up new projects after March 31. An official said that after the bomb blast at the court complex, a proposal was made to cover the complex and other important offices with CCTV cameras. As many as 274 fixed cameras were to be installed at the court complex, DC office, CP office, multi-level car parking, cycle stand and Bachat Bhawan under the project worth Rs 3.89 crore.
Under safe city project, 1,400 CCTV cameras have been installed at various locations.
Proposed sites
Clock Tower, Jagraon bridge, civil hospital, Samrala Chowk, CMC hospital, Jalandhar Bypass, Dholewal Bridge, Durga Mata Mandir, toll plaza and Jalandhar bypass etc are proposed sites for installation of cameras under the safe city mission. Some of the proposed sites for new cameras include SBS Nagar E block T point, Ramgarhia Road to Jhande, Dugri Road Libra cut, Aditya Jaitley chowk, Chuharpur Road and Jassian Road, Haibowal to Laddowal Road Balloke etc.
Work is to start at some of the locations finalised earlier. These places include Meena Bazaar chowk, Issa Nagar bridge, Old Sabzi Mandi chowk, Gandhi Nagar market chowk, Gaushala Chowk, Sunder Nagar, Sua Road, 33 feet road, Lohara, Giaspura Road etc.