Call it an Orwellian dystopia or the need of the hour, but the city will soon be under total closed circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance, according to Commissioner of Police A.K. Viswanathan.
“We are installing CCTV units in the city as a movement. It is the Greater Chennai City Police’s project to ensure safety and security of everyone in the city. We are making all-out efforts to bring the entire city under CCTV surveillance ,” he said on Saturday at the launch function of two promotional videos.
The city police personnel have been conducting door-to-door campaigns, calling on households and commercial establishments on every street, asking them to set up CCTVs.
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“We appeal to the public to install a camera outside their homes or shops... By this, we can cover 80% of the area,” Mr. Viswanathan said. The government and a few welfare organisations have also extended assistance to set up CCTV cameras in public places, to cover the remaining 20%, he added.
“We have also written to civic authorities to make establishing CCTV cameras mandatory in new buildings for obtaining plan approvals and other permissions. Our objective is to establish CCTV cameras in every house, shop or building,” Mr. Viswanathan said. Additional Commissioner of Police, South, M.C. Sarangan, said with help of CCTV footage, several crimes had been cracked quickly. The gadgets were providing digital evidence besides acting as deterrents to crime.
One of the videos released was on the importance of CCTV cameras, made by comedian Vivek. The other was directed by bike racer Alisha Abdullah on the e-challan system, advising motorists on the need to obey traffic rules.
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E-challan system
A. Arun, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said, “After introduction of the new e-challan system, at least 5.9 lakh cases have been booked against motorists who violated traffic rules. Traffic police collected ₹5.1 crore as fines.
Around 90% of violators who were booked promptly paid the fine amount through different modes.” The cashless payment system was introduced to ensure the payment of penalty was a transparent process.
“Our aim is to ensure everyone respects the traffic rules. Revenue generation is not the objective. Road safety is,” Mr. Viswanathan added.