Delhi has most CCTV cameras, surpasses New York, London

As per a report in Forbes India, Chennai secured third place with 609.9 CCTV cameras while Mumbai came in 18th with 157.4 CCTV cameras per square mile

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the national capital has surpassed the megacities such as New York, London and Shanghai in having the most number of CCTV cameras installed per square mile.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal quoted a news report that said Delhi has 1,826 CCTV cameras per square mile, which is more than New York, London and Shanghai. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

He cited a Forbes India report on the most surveilled cities of the world, which put Delhi on the top with 1,826.6 CCTV cameras per square mile, followed by London with 1,138. Chennai secured third place with 609.9 CCTV cameras while Mumbai came in 18th with 157.4 CCTV cameras per square mile, the report said.

In a tweet, he said, “I feel proud to say that Delhi beat cities like Shanghai, New York and London with most CCTV cameras per square mile across the world. At first, Delhi has 1,826 cameras, while at second, London has 1,138 cameras per square mile. My compliments to the Delhi Government’s officers and engineers who worked on the project like a mission and achieved the feat in such a short time.”

A press statement issued by his office later in the day said: “The Kejriwal government has delivered on its promise. Delhi ranks number 1 out of 150 cities across the world in terms of CCTV cameras installed per square mile. It beat cities like Shanghai, New York and London. Delhi has 1,826 CCTVs installed per square mile, three times more than Chennai, and 11 times more than Mumbai.”

“Delhi ranks number one in the list with 1,826 cameras per square mile, followed by London with 1,138, Chennai with 609, and Shenzhen (China) with 520. Only three Indian cities feature in the top 20— Delhi at rank 1, Chennai at rank 3, and Mumbai is at rank 18 with 157 cameras per square mile,” the release said.

In the first phase of the project, the government installed nearly 275,000 cameras across the city and is currently working on the second phase of the project, in which it aims to install 140,000 cameras, the statement said.

The CCTV project is part of the government’s larger action plan on enhancing women safety in the capital, which was one of the main aspects of the manifesto of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2020 assembly elections.

The government further said, “All CCTV feeds are highly secure, with hardware monitored by the community. Feeds are accessible only to authorised users, and the system itself is capable of automatic health checkups to detect disturbances and intrusions. The Delhi government ensures the security and privacy of all feeds collected, and ensures that it is only used for authorised purposes by authorised users.”