NEW DELHI: In a bid to strengthen surveillance and improve public safety in the capital, the Delhi government is planning to install 50,000 additional CCTV cameras across the city. The initiative, led by the Public Works Department, marks the third phase of the city’s large-scale surveillance programme, with a special emphasis on women’s safety, officials said on Wednesday.
The proposal was announced by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta during her recent budget speech, where she laid out plans to expand the city’s CCTV network. “The broader idea behind this next phase is to ensure better access to CCTV footage for police and to create a comprehensive citywide monitoring system,” said a senior PWD official.
Discussions are currently underway between the Delhi Police, PWD, and the Home Department to determine the technical and logistical framework for the project, the official added.
Since 2018, the Delhi government has installed about 2.8 lakh CCTV cameras in two phases, in collaboration with resident welfare associations (RWAs) and market trader bodies.
Under the current setup, each assembly constituency has been equipped with around 2,000 CCTV cameras. The next phase will focus on further coverage in local markets and RWA-managed areas, with 30 to 40 cameras planned for each such zone. “We will improve upon the project by identifying the problems and challenges faced in the previous works; the technical issues and logistics of where to place the cameras will be identified. The target is 50,000 cameras, as announced by the chief minister earlier,” the official said.
All existing CCTV cameras are maintained by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a central government enterprise.
A central command centre at the PWD headquarters monitors the live feed, which is stored for 30 days, with an additional five to seven days of reserve backup. The feed is accessible to the PWD, Delhi Police, district magistrates, and courts.