CCTV coverage: Police stations allocated Rs 50K

Kolkata: Kolkata Police has allotted a fund for adding more CCTV cameras in all the police stations and also to repair the old ones.

After the incident at Amherst Street Police Station where a part of the police station where common people get access was out of the CCTV coverage area, all the police stations were directed to submit a detailed daily report on the CCTV cameras.

After getting the reports for a few consecutive days, it was found that most of the police stations were not fully covered by the CCTV cameras.

Also, many cameras were old and often broke down. After going through the daily reports, it was decided to allot funds for the installation and repair work of CCTV cameras in the police stations, through the divisional Deputy Commissioners (DC). The maximum amount that has been fixed for each of the police stations is Rs 50,000 for the said work.

This apart, OCs of all the police stations have been asked to preserve the footage carefully as per the directive of the Supreme Court.

“A state-level project is ongoing to comply with the Supreme Court order. It will take more time to be updated as per the order. However, we are installing more CCTV cameras and replacing the old and non-functioning ones before that,” said a senior Kolkata Police official.

The OCs have also been asked to submit a report to their respective divisional DCs on the action taken to keep the whole police station building under CCTV coverage. The divisional DCs will inform the Lalbazar subsequently.