The Mumbai-based company appointed to operate closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras under the civic body’s Safe City project in Kolhapur will be penalised if the installed units become dysfunctional due to any technical reason, in the backdrop of several objections raised by the corporators over the quality of work undertaken by the operating company. A group of elected representatives have alleged that sub-standard CCTV cameras have been installed under the project. “These units will not last even for a year,” they claimed. The penalty amount will depend upon the duration these cameras remain dysfunctional, civic officials said. “If the cameras stop functioning due to a technical snag on part of the operator, the company will be levied fine on hourly basis,” an official of the public works department of the KMC said.
The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has appointed Samarth Security System Private Limited to carry out the project work. “It quoted the lowest amount of Rs 56 lakh for maintaining the project. The amount has to be paid only after the completion of one year of the warranty period,” the officials said. he KMC has already directed the company to put in place adequate back-up facilities since many parts of the city face huge load-shedding during the monsoon season. “At present, the company has installed a facility which will take care of the back-up for 30 minutes after the power goes off. However, we have asked them to increase this time limit by another 15 to 20 minutes,” the official added.
The civic body will pay Rs 14 lakh every year to the company for four years. The project is being implemented in two phases. In the second phase of the work, the high-resolution cameras will be installed along with specially assembly of infra-red light facility. “These cameras are costly and may cost up to Rs 2 lakh each. Since there are financial limitations to complete the project, we are going to allocate funds for specialised cameras which can even function in night mode,” they added.
The total cost of the project is Rs 7 crore and the KMC is yet to pay Rs 4 crore to the firm. Balance payment will be made only after the firm resolves the flaws pointed out by the corporators.
