Chennai: “The city will be brought under the surveillance of CCTV cameras before this September with an aim to reduce and prevent crimes,” said city Commissioner of Police A K Viswanathan at a press conference at Vepery here this morning.During the meet, two PSAs were released with messages to instal CCTV cameras that capture roadside view, and pay penalties using e-challan system.
The short film on CCTV cameras was produced by actor and comedian Vivek. The other film on e-challan system was directed by bike racer Alisha Abdullah.
While addressing the media, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Arun, said, “In the beginning, we were not confident about introducing cashless enforcement system owing to various reasons.”
He informed that 5.90 lakh cases have been registered and they collected a whopping Rs 5.1 crore since the inception of e-challan system this May.
Around 90 per cent of defaulters deposited the fine amount through different means with the government promptly.
Viswanathan said, “The main aim to introduce e-challan system is to bring transparency and also make road-users obey the traffic rules.”
THIRD EYE
Referring to it as ‘donate your third eye’, Additional Commissioner of Police, South, Sarangan, said, “A majority of the cases in recent times were cracked with the help of surveillance cameras. It holds numerous benefits including deterrence, detection of crimes and also provides us with digital evidence.”
Refuting the claims that surveillance cameras are deemed as substitute for the police, he said, ‘It only aims to enhance security and reduce crime incidents. The government has several initiatives to instal the cameras, including the smart city project. It is not sufficient as people should voluntarily come forward and donate a CCTV camera that captures the roadside view.”
To achieve this, the police are conducting door-to-door campaign and addressing traders and merchants to join the drive. Further, the police have adopted cluster-based approach to implement it.
“We are grouping 10 to 20 residents to tackle the problem of funds. They can set up one CCTV camera that faces the exterior surroundings of the neighbourhood,” he added.