HYDERABAD: Telangana State Police Department has initiated a project to design, supply, and operationalise CCTV systems at 18 districts headquarters.
Although the number of CCTV cameras and their exact locations is yet to be decided, the government has finalised the districts list. As of one of now, 625 CCTV cameras are required, which will be installed at 18 locations. On an average, 24 cameras will be allocated for each district headquarters.
This CCTV surveillance system will be equipped with software that can be used by at least 100 users. Data will be stored at the Unified Command Central Solution Platform (UCCS) at each District Police Headquarters Command Centre (DPHHC).
The 18 district headquarters include Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Wanaparthy and others. The Police Commissionerates which will come under the ambit of the CCTV surveillance are Karimnagar, Khammam, Nizamabad, Ramagundam, Siddipet and Warangal.
It may be recalled that Hyderabad was recently listed among the top 10 most surveilled cities in the world. The State government as of now has floated a tender and said, “The purpose of city surveillance system is to reduce crime, increase citizen safety, stop vandalism, deter civil unrest, planning events, monitoring of infrastructure. It would help law enforcement agencies to monitor public areas, analyse patterns, and track incidents and suspects, and enable quicker response.”
“Authority intends to implement the high definition IP based CCTV surveillance system across various locations within each district headquarters across the State. The exact location and number will be finalised. The quantity of cameras may vary... based on the location requirement at each DPHQ,” the document added.
Meanwhile, privacy researchers are decrying the move by pointing out that the country still does not have a Data Protection Law and privacy is a fundamental right of the citizens.
“The government wants to control every corner of the State. This is a draconian form of governance. This can be very well be taken up by other States, as we have seen before,” said a security researcher.