Electronic surveillance to check crime in Kullu town

Dipender Manta

An electronic surveillance system will play a crucial role in keeping tabs on miscreants round the clock in Kullu town in the coming days. 

The Kullu district administration set up a CCTV camera control room in the town just before the start of the weeklong Dasehra festival to keep strict vigil on law offenders. As many as 106 CCTV cameras were installed at key locations from Bhunter to the Gamen bridge. The police monitor these cameras from the control room.

The cameras are of HD quality with night vision capacity to easily read the numbers of vehicles and identify a person in case of a suspicious activity. It was a pilot project initiated by the district police to intensify vigil on offenders during the weeklong Kullu Dasehra.

Kullu is visited by a large number of domestic and foreign tourists round the year. At the same time, drug traffickers are also active in the district, necessitating strict vigil to ensure tourist safety as well as check the supply of drugs.

Several incidents of tourists being assaulted and even women tourists being raped have been reported in the past. In the absence of CCTV cameras at key locations in Kullu-Manali, the police have been groping in the dark to solve the crime cases.

The people of the district, especially hoteliers, have been demanding the installation of a CCTV camera control room in Manali town for electronic surveillance by the police. They say that Manali town is a famous tourist place, and hence the surveillance system should be high tech to ensure tourist safety.

Kullu SP Gaurav Singh says that to tighten the noose on offenders in the district, the electronic surveillance system will play a crucial role. During Dasehra, it played a major role in keeping vigil on miscreants and nabbing them. 

“At present, we have an electronic surveillance system in a limited area. With the help of the state government, we are planning to bring the entire district under electronic surveillance in near future,” he adds.

“With the help of the electronic surveillance system, the police can keep an eye on traffic rule violators and suspicious activities of miscreants,” he adds.

Anup Thakur, president of Hoteliers Association Kullu-Manali, says, “It is a good initiative of the district police to set up a CCTV camera control room in Kullu town for surveillance. A similar electronic surveillance system is needed in Manali town, which too remains abuzz with tourist activity round the year”.

“Most of the time it has been observed that CCTV cameras installed in Kullu and Manali remain nonfunctional for want of maintenance. There is need for regular follow up to keep the CCTV cameras functional,” says Thakur.