CCTVs keep vigil in Walled City

Maneesh Pandey / TNN / May 18, 2006, 02:30 IST

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Eight CCTVs have been installed at Fatehpuri Mosque and 24 more at "strategic spots" on the main stretch between Red Fort.

NEW DELHI: The Walled City is being turned into a fortress. With horrors of serial blasts, on Diwali-eve last year, looming large and the explosion at Jama Masjid last month still haunting, Delhi Wakf Board and Delhi Police are taking no chance in ensuring fool-proof security at religious places and in Chandni Chowk.
According to Wakf Board and Delhi Police, eight CCTVs have been installed at Fatehpuri Mosque and 24 more at "strategic spots" on the main stretch between Red Fort crossing and Fatehpuri Mosque.
While the expense for the CCTVs at Fatehpuri Mosque, about Rs 2.75 lakh, has been given by the Wakf Board, Delhi Police has borne the cost of 24 CCTVs on Chandni Chowk street estimated to be over Rs 2 crore.
Wakf Board chairman Mateen Ahmed said: "The next in line will be Jama Masjid, where we are planning to install about 25-30 CCTVs to ensure secured environs in and around the historic masjid.

Beside the entry and exit gates, the CCTVs will be installed at all strategic locations for keeping a check on the masjid which is visited by global and domestic tourists. We will bear the total coast of installing the CCTVs inside Jama Masjid, which will come up to about Rs 15 lakh."
Added an official: "As a counter-terrorism measure, installing security devices at city's famous temples, temporarily though, during festival season is nothing new.

But after the blast at Jama Masjid, we are trying to provide security cover to all religious places in the area. Beside Fatehpuri and Jama Masjid, talks are on to install CCTVs at Gauri Shankar Mandir and Sheesh Ganj Gurudwara."
The CCTVs are in operation at the Fatehpuri Mosque, where according to the police, the surveillance is also being done through door frame and hand-held metal detectors. "On Fridays, about 2,500 to 3,000 people visit Fatehpuri Mosque and about 10,000 at Jama Masjid.
During the months of Id and Ramzaan, the number of visitors soar to about 30,000 to 50,000 at these famous mosques of Walled City," Ahmed said.
Of the 24 CCTVs installed on main Chandni Chowk street, eight of these can be zoomed or moved and will be operated through the police control room. Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary, Chandni Chowk Vyapar Mandal, said: "We are looking forward to the successful launch of these CCTVs on Chandni Chowk stretch.
Some of the strategic locations include Red Fort Crossing, SBI building, Cycle Market, Fountain Chowk, Town Hall, Dariba corner, Ballimaran, Kucha Mahajani and Baradari."
The cops added there is a plan to install four to six CCTVs at Gauri Shankar Mandir, which is visited by about 7,000 devotees every Monday, and about 8 to 12 at the Gurudwara, which is visited by thousands on Saturdays and Sundays.

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