Network of 7,500 CCTV cameras to boost Ghaziabad city’s surveillance system

The “safe city loop” involves the installation of cameras to identify crime hot spots, monitoring of public places and identification of troublemakers

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation has started the integration of 1,500 CCTV cameras in public places with a centralised control room and these cameras, along with another set of 6,000-odd CCTV cameras, will be brought under the “safe city loop” initiative of the city corporation to help with crime surveillance and detection, municipal officials said on Tuesday.

Under the ‘safe city loop’ project, residents will be asked to store the CCTV recordings for a period of about 7-15 days. These cameras will not be integrated with the control room. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Officials clarified that by integration, what they mean is that the feed from these cameras will be monitored live from a centralised control room, to be set up by the corporation.They said the work to integrate the cameras will be carried out at a cost of about ₹4.8 crore.

“The work on integration is expected to be completed by next month. Thereafter, we have identified for the “safe city loop” project another set of 3,500 CCTV cameras in public places, besides 9,000 cameras identified by the police. There will be some overlapping of cameras in certain areas and we estimate that about 7,500 cameras will be brought under the “safe city loop” project,” said Vikramaditya Malik, Ghaziabad municipal commissioner.

“Except for the 1,500 CCTV cameras, the remaining 6,000 cameras will not be integrated with the control room and their feed will not be available for live monitoring,” said Malik.

The “safe city loop” involves the installation of cameras to identify crime hot spots, monitoring of public places and identification of troublemakers, said Malik.

Officials said the 1,500 cameras that will be integrated with the control room are those that are installed outside banks, in markets and other public places.

“Under the “safe city loop” project, residents will be asked to store the CCTV recordings for a period of about 7-15 days. These cameras will not be integrated with the control room. In case of a crime or accident, the police/administration will access the recordings. So, in all, we will have about 7,500 CCTV cameras across the city for surveillance,” Malik said.

Apart from the integrated CCTV cameras and those under the ”safe city loop” initiative, Ghaziabad city is also expected to get CCTV cameras under the integrated traffic management system (ITMS) in next six months for better traffic management, enforcement and incident detection.

The project is being executed at an overall cost of about ₹85.75 crore and its detailed project report has been approved by the state government, officials said, adding that the request for proposal document has been sent to IIT-Kanpur for vetting. Thereafter, tenders will be floated and the project completed in six months.

The ITMS involves installation of equipment and cameras at 41 selected locations across the city and the officials said these cameras can also be used for tracing fleeing criminals and detecting incidents on major roads.