KOCHI: In a bid to curb the increasing crime rate in the city, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has directed the District Collector and the City Police Commissioner to install CCTV cameras at various locations in the district. Commission Acting Chairman P Mohanadas also sought a report from both the Collector and Commissioner in this regard within four weeks.
“Installation of CCTV cameras will help the police in solving the cases instantly. Officers often fail to nab the culprits behind high-tech crimes in the city owing to lack of evidence,” said the order.
The SHRC issued the order on Saturday while considering the petition of councillor Thampi Subrahmanian seeking installation of 24X7 CCTV cameras at BOT bridge, Harbour bridge, Kannangadu bridge, Edakochi bridge, Kumbalangi-Eramelloor bridge, Chellanam Road, Fort Kochi, Jhankar Jetty, Mattanchery Boat Jetty and Island Boat Jetty. According to the petitioner, the authorities often ignore the West Kochi area when it comes to installation of CCTV cameras.
“West Kochi, which is frequented by travellers from other places, often witnesses skirmishes. Due to the lack of CCTV coverage, there is no documented evidence of the vehicles and people coming to the area,” said the complaint. Earlier, TNIE had reported a majority of the CCTV cameras installed in the city are non-functional which has affected the crime detection system adversely. Of the 99 cameras installed at key locations in the city, only 79 are functioning.
However, the police control room receives signals from only 57 cameras. The remaining 22 cameras show the connecting mode status. Responding to the issue, the police officers had said the status of the cameras had changed and a majority of them were functioning now. The cameras were installed at 33 strategic points in the city by Keltron in three phases from 2010. Of these, Kaloor Junction, Palarivattom bypass and Vyttila junction have four fixed cameras along with a dome one while Palarivattom junction, Pallimukku, Desabhimani junction, Kakkanad and Infopark have three fixed cameras each.