The Solan Municipal Corporation (MC) has mooted a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance project to monitor and enhance security in the vulnerable areas of the city.
The project aims at providing real-time surveillance, which will deter potential criminal activities and create a safer environment for residents, while safeguarding the assets of the civic body. With frequent crimes like vehicle thefts and house burglaries being reported in Solan city, enhanced CCTV camera coverage was the pressing need of the day.
“The project will fulfil several objectives by enhancing security and curbing nefarious activities like thefts, vandalism and trespassing. It will provide real-time monitoring of key areas which would enable quick response in case of emergencies. It will also aid law enforcement agencies by providing video evidence of key happenings,” said Punam Grover, a councillor, who had proposed the project. She had been a former Mayor of Solan.
A site survey was undertaken to identify high-security risks and vulnerabilities. This helped in determining the number and type of CCTV cameras required. Thereafter, suitable CCTV cameras were selected considering factors like resolution, field of view, low-light performance and weather resistivity. Cameras would be erected at strategic entry and exit points, high-traffic zones, besides other vulnerable areas identified in the survey.
To achieve the objective, requisite infrastructure will have to be created. This includes mounting brackets, power supply lines and interwork connectivity to support the CCTV paraphernalia.
“A project worth Rs 2 crore has been prepared to equip the vulnerable areas of the city with CCTV camera network after identifying sites across 17 wards,” she added. A centralised control room and data storage would also be set up to monitor and manage the camera feeds. Integration with the local law enforcement authorities would also be required for effective utilisation of the surveillance system.
“We will approach the local Urban Development Department (UDD) to provide funds for this significant project as installing adequate CCTV cameras is the growing needs of a city like Solan which is vulnerable, owing to the presence of a large number of migrant and floating population,” said councillor Rajeev Kaura, who was pursuing the project with the state government. Kaura had been Deputy Mayor of Solan earlier.
In 2022 also, a proposal worth Rs 98.43 lakh for installing CCTV cameras was received from the Police Department, where funds were to be sought under the Nirbhaya Fund from the state government. This proposal was forwarded to the Urban Development Department for further action but no funds had been received.
Solan SP Gaurav Singh said the state government had installed 537 CCTV cameras while private parties had installed 7,000 cameras in the city. A proposal seeking funds for enhancing the CCTV camera coverage in the city had also been submitted to the state Home Department.
