Roorkee under CCTV watch

Sandeep Rawat

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 6

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Haridwar, Sweety Aggarwal, who had assumed the charge last year, had envisaged bringing Roorkee town under hi-tech surveillance to control the rising crime graph.

As part of this plan, recently a hi-tech control room was inaugurated at Civil Lines by her, from where round-the-clock monitoring of CCTV footages is being done.

This control room is on the lines of the City Control Room in Haridwar near Har-Ki-Pauri, where, apart from monitoring 110 odd CCTV footages, mela control room, offices of Superintendent of City and Kumbh Mela are also based.

In case of any crime or complaint, the control room flashes the news to the nearest police post, police station and mobile-borne Cheetah squad.

Now, 30 CCTV cameras have been installed at 12 major intersections and points in the Roorkee town.

SSP Sweety said in the recent years, the crime graph in Roorkee and its sub urban areas was on the rise and in many cases, CCTV footages would have proved of immense help. But lack of it made the police work more complicated.

So, the need to equip the main intersections and sensitive points in the town with CCTVs was felt. Now, with this hi-tech set up, more criminals will get arrested and footages will help in maintaining smooth flow of traffic, she claimed.

The CCTVs have been installed at Ganesh Pull, Durga Chowk, Military Chowk, Peer Baba-Picket-Rampur Tungi tri-section, Malakpur-Tungi intersection, Roorkee talkies, Ram Nagar Chowk, Malviya Chowk, BSM tri-section, Municipal Corporation Chowk, Bus stand and other important markets and highway stretches.

Notably, last year on August 6, a gang war had taken place just outside the Roorkee sub jail, but due to lack of CCTV equipments, the gangsters fled without being recognised. In October 2011, at this very site, Deputy Jailor Narendra Singh was shot by two bike-borne assailants. Had there been a CCTV camera, the assailants could have been identified and even caught.

The SSP said more CCTV installation were on the anvil in Haridwar and Roorkee, keeping in mind the upcoming Ardh Kumbh fair in January 2016 in the district.