After two years of first being partially implemented and then stalled, the Delhi government’s project to install CCTV cameras at major entry points to monitor the flow of vehicles is likely to be revived soon.
On Wednesday, top officials of the Transport Department, which is responsible for the project, and the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), which is implementing it, held a meeting to discuss the project. Mohanjeet Singh, the principal secretary-cum-commissioner of Industries Department and managing director of DSIIDC, confirmed that the meeting took place. He said the matter would be “sorted out”. Transport Special Commissioner K.K. Dahiya, other officers from the departments and technical experts attended the meeting.
This came a day after The Hindu reported that the project had fallen into limbo two years after a Supreme Court order to set up the cameras. The SC had on October 8, 2015 ordered the State government to set up CCTV cameras at nine major border points, including Rajokri, Tikri, Singhu, Ghazipur and Badarpur, to assess the movement of commercial vehicles. The directive was a part of the order to collect an environment compensation charge from commercial vehicles entering Delhi.
No server for feeds
Though the cameras were installed, the Transport Department had not set up a server for the feeds, according to a top official in the department. Then, the contract for the project ended, leaving the cameras installed at the borders without annual maintenance contracts.
The official said that a committee comprising members of the Transport Department and the DSIIDC had been formed to suggest ways to fully implement the project. The committee would visit the sites over the weekend.
With diesel vehicles over 10 years in age and commercial vehicles not destined for Delhi being banned from entering, the cameras would help identify such vehicles. The project includes automatic number plate recognition that will be connected to the Central database of vehicle registrations - VAHAN. But with the municipal corporations implementing a project to install radio frequency identification at the border points on the SC’s orders, a transport department official said the usage of CCTV cameras could change to avoid duplication.
