Ludhiana Safe City project: Six years after launch, 1,184 CCTV cameras working, over 200 lying non-functional

“Ludhiana is the only city in Punjab to have such a mammoth setup of CCTV cameras which are monitored from a centralised control room managed by the police,” said Ludhiana police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu.

Sidhu added, “Soon, we will have 300 additional CCTVs in the city which are being installed under the Smart City project.”

Rupinder Kaur Bhatti, ADCP (headquarters), said that 217 CCTV cameras have either been taken off or are lying non-functional due to several infrastructure and construction projects in the city. “Once the construction works are complete, they will be re-installed. It is a temporary issue,” she said.

Currently, the control room is managed by 26 personnel. “We need at least 15 more personnel for better management,” said Bhatti. “The cameras have helped solve several cases such as roadside snatchings, thefts etc,” she added.

The entire setup was made operational with assistance from the private firm HFCL. After the contract with the company ended, the police started managing the project internally on its own.

The cost of the project was pegged at Rs 80 crore when launched in 2016. The project includes IP based cameras for surveillance, ANPR cameras to capture and track vehicles by their license/number plate and RLVD (Red Light Violation Detection) to monitor traffic violations. The software can also track VVIP and VIP movements. It can read all types of fonts on number plates of vehicles.