Security & Surveillance : Delhi: big brother's watching

Adding more edge to its ongoing GIS system which will enable state

authorities to peep 30 feet deep under the land surface, Delhi government is all

set to install hi-definition IP surveillance cameras in the next three months.

“We have approved the project for the installation of sixty-three IP

surveillance cameras across the city. This project is expected to get completed

in three months time. These cameras will cover the entire area falling within 5

kms radius from the place of installation of the camera,” says Savitur Prasad,

secretary, department of information technology, Government of NCT of Delhi.

Delhi government has invested approximately Rs 120 crore in this project.

These cameras will provide real-time information to the departments and will

frequently alert the departments concerned regarding the change taking place in

the frames that it would capture.

“We are using frame-detection technology in this system. It will inform and

alert the departments that would use the surveillance service. The variables of

change will be set by the departments,” explains Major General Gireesh Kumar,

project director, Delhi State Special Data Infrastructure, who is involved in

this project.

These surveillance cameras can be rotated at 360° and tilted up and down, and

these movements can be controlled from a remote location.

Kumar mentions that these surveillance cameras, as of now, would be used by

the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and New Delhi Municipal Council to monitor

illegal construction, but it can be further used by other departments as well.

“Other departments can use this system, but at present, it has been proposed

to be used by MCD and NDMC,” says Kumar.

However, how much these surveillance cameras will stop illegal constructions,

rampant all over Delhi in both plush upmarket colonies as well as jhuggis, is

anybody's guess. Even when these cameras are used for security purposes, they

often fail at crucial times. The recent planting of four bombs at Bangalore's

Chinnaswamy Stadium during IPL despite the presence of 34 surveillance cameras

(apparently because of a short power blackout at that time) is a case in point.

If these cameras can be compromised during an event where international security

was concerned, how effective they will actually be in stopping illegal

constructions when it's mostly MCD and NDMC officials who are alleged to be in

the nexus? You have an answer to the question or not, Delhites planning any

additional construction, please remember, Big Brother's watching

Prasoon Srivastava



Source: DQ