The CCTV Camera installation as a part of the so-called smart city implementation in the major towns of the state has remained only the political talk during the election time. The smart city does not exist even after several years the funds had been allocated by the center to the state of Goa and the non-existence of the CCTV cameras in Goa’s two major commercial cities has led to an increase in the crime rates which includes the broad daylight robberies and murders…
Following the daylight attempt to robbery and murder on the Margao based jeweler Swapnil Walke has opened the eyes of the Administration. The people of Margao are finally eased after the district administration decided to pull up their socks and fix the CCTV cameras across the commercial town area.
South Goa Collector Ajit Roy held a meeting with the Margao Municipal Corporation (MMC) officials, along with the police and traffic personnel and electricity department engineers, in presence of local Margao MLA Digambar Kamat.
Citizens, along with leaders have actively been pointing out the non-functional state of the CCTV cameras across the town city that was installed some years ago under the MPLAD funds. The MMC – who was assigned to look into the servicing and operationality – failed to look into it, thereby resulting in most cameras not working.
After the murder of Margao based businessman Swapnil Walke, the police had a tough task to gather CCTV evidence from across the city, as most of the cameras were not functional.
After repeated delays, the administration, under the collector South, has decided to restore the CCTV cameras across the city. The contractor, who was present at the meeting said that of the 37, only about 15-20 can be revived. A deadline of October 1st has been set for the contractor to get these CCTV’s up and running.
Meanwhile, it is learned that the police have identified nearly 100 locations across the city where CCTV’s need to be installed. These however, according to sources, will be taken up in a later stage. The process of purchasing new ones, including their installation, will be done in consultation with government agencies.
Many of the city traders and citizens have been long demanding the MMC to restore the surveillance cameras across the city. The recent incident however turned out to be a wake-up call for the authorities.
“The CCTV’s have been there, but whether they were functional or not, we were not aware. After the incident, we realized they were not working for quite a while. Its high time the authorities put these in place,” said a local citizen from the city area.
The control room for the city’s surveillance will continue to be the police headquarters in the city.
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