Chandigarh’s CCTV coverage is no longer worth boasting about as a police beat system to track and trace crimes in the city. According to the recent revelations made by the RTI and published by Hindustan Times, the maximum period up to which a footage could be stored in the memory of CCTV was 7 days. This means that every eighth-day footage replaces the one recorded on the day 1.
Astonishingly insane as it may sound, but the loss of data in terms of the footage getting replaced every 8th day by itself causes serious loss of evidence in some cases which is pathetic. The mere short-lived memory of 7-days is of no good if justice and fair means have to prevail in the eyes of the law.
How did the information come out?
Recently an RTI was filed by the mother of a girl who has been booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The trial is being run on the girl in a local court whose mother says she has been “falsely implicated” in the case. RTI which was filed by a local resident of Mauli Complex, Chandigarh was eager to confirm the exact spot from where the police officials have claimed to have recovered the drugs.
In a city like Chandigarh, where police department claims to have beat boxes after every kilometre to track down the miscreants in the city still fails to capture them who flee within seconds after committing small thefts like snatching and crimes of the similar sort which makes us doubt those claims openly.
What Police officials have to say?
The DSP of traffic police in his statement said that the maximum period upto which the record was available with them was 7 days only and thereafter nothing could be done about it. Even the SSP of the Chandigarh Police department has shown concern over the entire matter and thinks that reviewal of these CCTVs is the only way out that could get the facts straight.
The counsel of the accused woman on the drug case also states that it becomes real difficult for people to feel safe when safety only in its pseudo form exists as an eye-wash. It is sad to note that CCTVs back in previous years were made to install by the Government wherein even NGOs and RWAs came forward to help the city beautiful to become the city that is safe.
How many CCTVs in Chandigarh keeps the watch?
On finding the truth, the exact count of CCTVs has also been revealed by the RTI.
- 5 CCTVs in ply on Delhi-Chandigarh highway covering Tribune Chowk
- 5 CCTVs ply after Transport lights till Centra Mall area
- 5 CCTVs from Transport lights till Tribune Chowk
- All sensitive points where past crime record rate is high are covered via CCTVs
- Chandigarh Police large in number and better equipped than SAS Nagar and Panchkula police fails to deliver
What worse could happen when we note that cameras installed by locals also had a backup of 15 days installed in it. And this result after all that toil from the authorities’ end is pretty disappointing for locals, police and governance. The loss has already been done but what matters the most is further loss can be prevented when we know where the issue lies.
What is most disappointing is even after having all the resources and equipment , the mice get away with cheese right under the cat’s nose. Just because we don’t respect and maintain our resources, others have to pay the price for it. Why are we so insensitive? What would take to guide us back to the right path again? Do we need a police to keep a check on the ‘police’? For how long the common man bear the brunt of governments’ callous attitude? The answers could be many but the problem still remains the same, “Government ignores while common man sores!”
Source: HT, Image Source = Hindustan Times
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