The Greater Chennai Corporation will start installing 1,750 pole cameras from next week to ensure safety of women on the streets of the city. The project is being taken up utilising the Nirbhaya fund.
The locations identified for these cameras include commercial areas, industrial areas, educational institutions, public transportation hubs, parks, beaches, malls and recreation centres.
The Corporation has already installed smart poles fitted with cameras at 150 locations. Feed from other cameras have started reaching the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Ripon Buildings. However, the number of cameras providing real time data has remained low.
The control centre was developed at an estimated cost of ₹149 crore under the Smart City Mission initiative. Facial recognition cameras were originally proposed to prevent crimes against women.
According to data compiled recently, Chennai has the highest number of cameras per square km among the major cities in the world.However, engineering consultants have stressed the need to have more cameras. Most of those installed by various line agencies did not provide real data to the control centre in Ripon Buildings.
Some engineers have suggested that the Corporation should get access to cameras installed at apartments and commercial complexes with focus on public spaces nearthe houses. The GCC could use the data from the private cameras to improve safety and security in those areas. In exchange for the access to the cameras at private premises, the civic body could provide incentives vis-a-vis property tax, the engineers suggested.
