Eve teasers, pickpockets and burglars beware – Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses in the city will soon have CCTV cameras and panic buttons. Accessing the Nirbhaya Funds, the corporation will install cameras and panic buttons in all buses in operation. Cameras will also be fitted in all terminals and important bus stops. To begin with, nearly 60 locations have been identified for installing cameras, an official said.
Tenders have already been floated for the work, and the facilities will be in place within the next 7 to 8 months, he said. Only last month, the previous AIADMK government faced the wrath of Madras high court when it said Tamil Nadu had used only 10.7% of the Nirbhaya Funds allotted by the Centre to improve safety of women in the state. Though 425 crore is available under the funds, Tamil Nadu utilised only 45.8 crore since 2018, it said, in response to a PIL filed by advocate-activist A P Suryaprakasam.
Now, the transport department has decided to enhance the safety quotient on buses by tapping the central funds lying unutilised. In 2015, on a trial basis, four cameras were installed on each MTC bus plying on five routes.
In February 2020, though the government announced that all government buses in the state would be fitted with CCTV cameras, the proposal was not implemented. The proposal was to identify and nab footboard travellers, students pelting stones on buses and to monitor accidents involving government/MTC buses. Now installing four panic buttons each, besides cameras, is aimed at beefing up safety for women travelling in buses.
As the buttons are linked to master control rooms of police and MTC, once it is pressed, the master control room would pass on the info and direct the nearest patrol vehicle to rush to the spot. Syncing it with the police control room would help reduce incidents of thefts and eve-teasing cases aboard MTC buses, said the official.
