Jama Masjid awaits CCTVs

A year after masked men sprayed bullets on a contingent of Taiwanese nationals at north Delhi’s Jama Masjid, CCTVs are yet to be installed outside the mosque, even as those installed inside are either hazy or simply don’t work.

A year after masked men sprayed bullets on a contingent of Taiwanese nationals at north Delhi’s Jama Masjid, CCTVs are yet to be installed outside the mosque, even as those installed inside are either hazy or simply don’t work.

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This after the Delhi Police suggested 30 spots beyond the Mughal-era mosque’s periphery, that needed to be under a CCTV network in early June, 2011.

“There are 13 CCTV cameras that have been installed inside the mosque by the Delhi Waqf Board. While we had received reports that three of these were non-functional till a week ago, the project (of installing CCTVs outside) is almost underway,” maintained a senior Delhi Police officer.

Shaken to the core after the incident, which threatened to cast a shadow of uncertainty on the Commonwealth Games, the police had relegated bringing the Jama Masjid under electronic surveillance in phase II of its action plan.

“We had made our recommendations, had surveyed the area with the agency’s engineers and chalked-put concrete plans. Now, the ball is in their court as they have to install the cameras,” the officer said.

However, even after chalking out detailed plans, the government agency concerned, sources said, is yet to even float tenders for the CCTV cameras.

While phase I of the police’s plan had brought at least 34 markets and 10 border security posts under electronic surveillance, only nine of the former and three of the latter are currently connected to the C4i Centre at the Delhi Police Headquarters.

Meanwhile, despite having zeroed-in on nine suspects and questioning at least 200 people soon after the attack — which was followed by a minor blast in a Maruti 800 car parked nearby on the morning of September 19, 2010 — the Special Cell is yet to make any headway in the case.