In a time of need, the CCTV camera at the Chennai Central railway station junction on Poonamallee High Road failed to function, on Wednesday.
A man tried to steal a woman’s handbag and fled. When the woman wished to view the suspect’s face on the CCTV camera footage, she found out they did not work.
The woman, E. Rubyraj, works for a company in Tambaram. On Wednesday, around 9 p.m., she alighted at Park railway station and was crossing the road to reach the Moore Market Complex and board a train to her house in Vyasarpadi. “When I was waiting at the junction, someone pulled my bag and ran. I shouted for help, but no one came to my rescue. Hearing my cries, the culprit dropped the bag and ran,” said Ms. Rubyraj.
After this, policemen on duty approached her and took her to the nearby booth. “I asked the police personnel to check the CCTV footage to identify the culprit. But he said it was not possible as the camera was not working,” she said.
There are around 1,500 CCTV cameras in the city that are monitored from the police commissioner’s office. “The cameras have not been working for a long time now. Even if they work they won’t be of any help as they are focussed towards the road and don’t have a 360-degree view,” said a policeman on duty near Chennai Central railway station.
The police point out that apart from installing 360-degrees cameras across the city, there is a need for augmenting the crime police strength. “Most of them are used for bandobast,” said a source.
Padmavathy. T, a college student and a commuter at Chennai Central railway station, felt that police personnel were not covering every section of the station. “They are concentrating only on a few areas,” she said.
