Lack of equipment hits e-surveillance at rly stn

Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 23

After the installation of CCTV cameras all over the city railway station, it is believed that its premises is under strict surveillance, but the surveillance and monitoring of CCTV cameras are affected by the unavailability of technical equipment.

The police said the recent rains had worsened the plight of the CCTV control room. Besides, no attention has been been paid by the authorities in checking defunct CCTV cameras installed at the railway station. Owing to this, several criminal activities also remain untraced. It is a prime example of a major security lapse as the busy junction records a footfall of over 50,000 people everyday. Over 150 crime incidents, including rape, murder, snatching, theft and other petty crimes, were recorded last year at  the station.

Though only two monitors have been installed at the CCTV control room to view the footage of all cameras, the operator at the control room said big monitors were required for clear viewing  of the same.

As per the government directions, all equipment in the control room should be mounted on a 19-inch rack. However, equipment placed on a table at the control room are surrounded by dampened walls. The operator at the control room, Ajay Pandit said several times the authorities had been told about the condition of the monitoring room but to no avail.

Many a times, the Divisional, Zonal Headquarters, of the railways do not have access to the CCTV footage of the cameras. For the 24-hour monitoring of the CCTV cameras, three operators have been appointed. However, the control room was found locked most of the time. One of the cleanliness workers said the room was barely spotted open during the night hours.

Meanwhile, Inspector of the Works Department Kuldeep Singh said he had received complaints regarding the maintenance of the control room. Hence, he would shortly repair its roof and the broken walls of the room.

SHO, Government Railway Police (GRP), Dharminder Singh Kalyan, said he was recently posted at the station and was yet to check the functioning of the CCTV cameras.