Six TNSTC buses plying from and to Srivaikuntam will come under police surveillance with the installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, according to Superintendent of Police Ashwin M. Kotnis.
As part of their efforts to deter crime in Srivaikuntam, the district police have already installed CCTV cameras in private buses. The facility is now being extended to government buses. In the first phase, six buses would be equipped with CCTV cameras. In the next phase, four more State-owned buses would come under the surveillance system, Mr. Kotnis told The Hindu here on Tuesday.
He said that a meeting in this regard was convened by Collector M. Ravikumar recently. The facility would be installed with donor funding. The buses plying through Eral, Vallanad, Srivaikuntam, Murappanadu and surroundings were focal points and police personnel would monitor their operation.
With the deployment of police personnel for bus marshalling and CCTV cameras, the surveillance mechanism had been synchronized. Police had been keeping a watchful eye to nip any problem in the bud. Problems occurred mostly due to grazing of cattle on fields and hence meetings had been conducted twice with cattle owners to insist on colouring of horns of cattle for easy identification and necessary action whenever problems arose.
Srivaikuntam Inspector of Police G. Venkatesan said that 48 police personnel were involved in bus marshalling through various routes crossing educational institutions.
He said that even small issues and incidents of nuisance had been reported to the police since people were aware of the surveillance mechanism.
