After district headquarters, it’s now the turn of the employees in taluk offices to come under camera surveillance.
In line with its initiative of bringing the entire civil station building under the eyes of CCTV cameras, Ernakulam district administration has mooted a project to install CCTV cameras at all the seven taluk offices under its jurisdiction. The project, which is set to commence at the Kanayannur taluk office on a pilot basis in February, will be extended to other offices in a phased manner.
“A technical proposal on the project has already been drafted with assistance from the National Informatics Centre and it will be implemented upon receiving the financial approval,” said M.G. Rajamanickam, District Collector. The authority is counting on meeting the project cost through sponsorship.
According to him, the initiative aims at monitoring the day-to-day developments at these offices, in addition to ensuring safety of the employees. “We will be able to track the happenings inside these offices and the functioning of the employees there. And in case of emergencies, we can retrieve visuals and audio files for details,” the official added.
The cameras will be linked to the centralised control unit at the Collector’s chamber, enabling the official to monitor the system frequently. The number of cameras to be installed will depend on the size and space of each of the office buildings, in addition to the number of employees.
The new system will also form part of the new e-district programme. It envisages holding public hearing programmes at taluk offices by which people can directly interact with the District Collector and convey their grievances through video conferencing.
Meanwhile, sources pointed out that the step came in the wake of recurring allegations of corruption in these offices. Earlier, the district administration installed about 40 cameras at different sections of the district headquarters amid protests from a section of the employees. As part of it, the District Collector and all other top officials have also let themselves to be monitored by cameras.
