
ROURKELA: Lack of a systematic electronic surveillance system has become a major bottleneck for Rourkela police in effective monitoring of crimes and quick identification of criminals in the steel city.
Amid the escalating crime rate in the city, the delay in rollout of the CCTV surveillance project of Rourkela Smart City Ltd (RSCL) is making matter worse for the cops.
Sources said the city needs at least 2,200 CCTV cameras at 1,800-1,900 locations for effective crime control and traffic management. Under the RSCL project, taken up at a cost of around Rs 100 crore, 605 cameras have been installed at various locations across the city including traffic signals and in areas with high traffic density. However, these cameras are lying dysfunctional for two years.
Taking a cue from their Hyderabad counterparts, Rourkela police has been recently utilising the existing private CCTV cameras installed at road-facing shops, other establishments and residential houses. Police have also gathered information about the availability of 450 private surveillance cameras and accordingly, location maps are getting prepared.
Besides, due to high incidence of property offences including burglaries and snatching, police have urged the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to ensure installation of at least 100 CCTV cameras at strategic locations and crime hotspots in its industrial township.
However, sources said, around 400 cameras are required to effectively cover the entire Rourkela Industrial Township which comprises 19 sectors.
It is learnt that in view of Rourkela co-hosting the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in January 2023, the RSCL hurriedly signed an agreement with Bharat Electronics Limited on July 4, 2022 for implementation of the master system integrator project under which the integrated electronic surveillance system was one of the components.
By December 2022, the administration had covered routes to the world cup venue and Birsa Munda multi-purpose stadium with the surveillance system and underground fibre cables with a temporary command centre operating from the RSCL office till the showpiece event. Though the rest of the identified locations were covered with installation of CCTV cameras and fibre cables, the surveillance system was never put to use as the command and control centre building of the RSCL’s Rourkela One project was not yet ready.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said the city increasingly needs effective electronic surveillance system both in crime control and traffic management to ensure safety, security and convenience of residents.
Despite the handicap, officers at the police station level are tirelessly putting in efforts to successfully detect crimes and arrest criminals, he said and added that use of surveillance technology would make their efforts more fruitful.