Ambala cops to repair faulty CCTV cameras

AMBALA: Although Ambala initiated a CCTV surveillance network to be used in policing, the same has not been implemeneted yet owing to the fact that Ambala Police lack a budget for the repair of the CCTV cameras. More than half the of the CCTV cameras in the city are either lying defunct or faulty.
The police department, observing the moment of crisis, has now claimed to take the issue under consideration and repair the CCTV cameras with money collected through challans and fines.
According to officials, both, Ambala City and Cantonment, houses about 260 CCTV cameras. However, sources in the police department claim that more than 50% of the CCTVs installed were not working properly and were in need of repair. Police officers are not able to get their hands on important pieces of evidence as a result of dysfunctional CCTV cameras in the crime spots. Some of the places where the CCTV cameras have stopped working are Manav crossing, Anaj Mandi, Kalka crossing, Baldev Nagar, Model Town, Capital crossing and Indra crossing.
Meanwhile, a resident of Sector 8, Ambala, Amit Saini alleged, “Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja, about a couple of years before, had installed about 40 CCTV cameras in sectors 8 and 9 of Ambala City and had given the responsibility for its repair to the municipal corporation. However, the MC has never paid attention to it following which most of the CCTVs there have been lying defunct.”
A senior police officer stated that municipal corporation also had a role in the poor maintenance of CCTV cameras and not only the police department. He added that many of these were installed with the help of various institutions, both governmental and non-governmental.
Meanwhile, SHO (traffic) Somesh Kumar said the number of working CCTV cameras were yet to be ascertained. “The present status of CCTVs will become clear after getting the CCTVs checked by an engineer. The faulty CCTVs would be repaired via money collected through fines and challans,” he said.