Abid Bashir
Srinagar, Apr 7: Jammu and Kashmir is mulling to cover entire Union Territory of J&K under round the clock Close Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance to keep an eye on the anti-national elements and for the “efficient law and order management.” The police headquarters of J&K have floated tenders for UT-wide CCTV integrated network system with a primary focus on procuring hi-resolution cameras having facilities of recognising face, automatic number place, colour unidentified objects and stone pelting.
The draft proposal of CCTV Integrated Network program framed by the J&K police, reads that the UT of J&K is the northern most region of India and it shares National Borders with Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and international border with Pakistan. “The UT is in constant threat of militancy and insurgency activities for a very long time. The PHQ is primarily responsible to manage Law and order situation in the UT. PHQ has accordingly undertaken several initiatives in the past, to enhance the surveillance systems. In one of such initiative, PHQ has installed CCTV cameras at various cities of UT, like Kashmir, Jammu and Samba etc,” the proposal reads. “It has also set up a Police Control Room (PCR) in Srinagar and Jammu city. With the growing needs and urge to maintain law & order in the UT, PHQ felt a need to create a holistic and integrated CCTV Camera network. The UT Wide CCTV Surveillance Project envisages creation of an integrated network of GIS based CCTV cameras connected with Zonal Command Control Centers (Z3Cs) and District Command Control Center (D3C) for an efficient management of law & order situation in the UT.”
The draft proposal reads that the project is focused on building CCTV infrastructure with proposed solutions of general surveillance, Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR), Facial Recognition System (FRS) and Command Center etc.
“The Key components of the project are CCTV monitoring of public areas frequently visited by citizens of J&K and susceptible to crime. Integration of location-based services and crime and criminal databases with real time CCTV feeds for prompt and effective resolution of citizen safety issues at public places,” the proposal reads.
To begin with, 184 cameras will be installed in Kashmir for 43 sites while as 218 cameras will be installed in Jammu region at 119 sites. “All five zones of Srinagar district will be covered where 43 cameras will be installed in north, South and Hazratbal zones of the district,” it reads.
The high resolution Cameras to be procured by the police will have facilities of “Facial Recognition of a person and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) that will be implemented primarily at entry/exit of Districts, and crucial crossings/ junctions etc,” the proposal reads, adding that the Cameras will also be used for Crowd Gathering, Object Identification (Colour) & Tracking, Object left behind / unidentified object and stone pelting. Interestingly, all the Deputy Commissioners of J&K districts have already asked the businessmen to install CCTVs outside their shops and malls.
