Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday launched Delhi government’s flagship project of installing 280,000 CCTV cameras from his assembly constituency – Patparganj, even as BJP MP from the area (East Delhi) Gautam Gambhir announced that he too had begun putting up cameras for public safety. Sisodia said installation of 140,000 cameras across the city will be completed by September while the process of issuing tenders for the second batch of an equal number of cameras has already begun. The ambitious scheme aims to install 2,000 CCTV cameras in every assembly constituency of Delhi. For several months, legislators and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) have been conducting surveys to determine the spots that need surveillance. After a major part of the surveys ended, the process of installation began from Sunday. “A control room will be set up at the PWD headquarters in ITO area to keep a constant vigil on those who harass women or miscreants in every nook and cranny. These hi-tech cameras will have a system that will provide a live feed to the RWA of the area and another to the SHO on a phone. The feed will be stored for 30 days and old feed can also be accessed on phone,” he told the locals at Supershine Chowk in East Vinod Nagar in East Delhi.Like Patparganj, every assembly segment in Delhi will have 2000 cameras in the first phase. Sisodia claimed that “only two other cities globally” have such a robust system of CCTV cameras across the city. Delhi will become “the third one”, he said. BJP’s MP from east Delhi Gautam Gambhir, however took a jibe at the AAP government on social media. Sharing a video of the cameras being installed, the BJP MP said that one of the CCTV cameras would focus on the fake promises of the AAP chief, who had once promised to install CCTV cameras in the national capital.
