The principal accountant general of Maharashtra has questioned the delay in installation of CCTV cameras for stepping up security. An eight-member committee headed by the police commissioner of Pune is facing flak from several quarters for the delay. The inspection report pertains to the Rs 224.31-crore project of installing 1,285 cameras at 444 locations. The project was supposed to be completed in April 2014. As per information acquired by the accountant general, only 63 cameras are installed and running. “The Rs 225-crore project in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad was approved by the state home ministry on November 14, 2013. Locations for 1,285 cameras were divided into four zones and a traffic division in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The number of cameras earmarked for each zone was: 297 for Zone 1, 275 for Zone 2, 365 for Zone 3, 270 for Zone 4 and 78 for the traffic division. In Zone 1 63 cameras were installed. The remaining work is pending,” said the report accessed by Vihar Durve, an activist, under the RTI. The Home department set up a project implementation committee headed by Pune Police Commissioner to monitor the installation. The additional commissioners of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations, representatives of the district administration, the state department of information and technology, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and Public Works Department (PWD) are other members. The committee was directed to meet once a week and was responsible for getting no objection certificates from various offices for the project. The private contractor was supposed to submit a detailed report on the progress, every fortnight. “Within 40 weeks, all CCTV cameras in all five zones were supposed to be functional. However, as per the implementation report sent to Director General of Police and Home Secretary on July 28, 2014, installation work for Zone 1 was not completed and the work on Zone 3 and 4 had not even started,” reads the report. Several elected representatives - MLAs and corporators - had provided funds from their development fund to sponsor the project of the state government. Most of the money spent so far has been from this fund. When asked about the PAG inspection report and the delay, Pune Police Commissioner Satish Mathur said, “Not a single penny has been spent on this project directly from the government exchequer. Also, I haven’t seen the inspection report. It must have been directly sent to State Home Ministry. As far as delay is concerned, there are several reasons.” Durve said the committee headed by Pune Police Commissioner was shrugging off responsibility on a sensitive issue. “There have been two major bomb blasts and several high profile political assassinations in the city. Many a time cops fail to nab culprits because of absence of CCTV footage. I filed several RTI applications with Pune Police. In the beginning, they told me the plan was to install 837 cameras. Later, they changed it to 1,285. So there’s confusion in basics of the project. The state government and the committee cited fund shortage. If they don’t have enough funds, they should either try to get them on priority or get cameras at subsidized rates from government suppliers. They shouldn’t wait for another tragedy to strike,” said Durve.
