To eradicate dark spots and ensure safety of women, the Delhi government has drawn up a comprehensive plan to provide a 24X7 CCTV surveillance system at a cost of around Rs 646 crore, said officials.
In Delhi, there are currently over 2.5 lakh CCTV cameras installed and maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD). The BJP government plans to install 50,000 more cameras.
The PWD, which installs and maintains CCTV cameras, is also planning to develop a Command Control Centre at the MSO building at ITO. “The location, however, will be finalised by the Delhi Police. If they suggest any other suitable location, the PWD will consider it,” said a senior official.
Unlike earlier, the Delhi Police will have a direct access to the Command Control Centre, to be equipped with four dashboard and incident modules, a network management server, recording server, recording failover servers, streaming server, automatic number plate recognition servers with storage devices, software, UPS, firewall, etc.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, in her maiden budget presentation in the Delhi Assembly last year, had allocated Rs 100 crore for the financial year for installing CCTV cameras. PWD has pegged the cost of the project at Rs 646.41 crore that would include third-party quality assurance, contingencies and cess charges.
The project will include 49,900 internet protocol (IP) bullet CCTV cameras, equipped with 512 GB SD card, according to a list provided by the Women and Child Development department and the Delhi Police. Further, 100 4-megapixel Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) CCTV cameras with infrared vision for better night visual quality and resolution of up to 100 metres will be installed at dark spots in consultation with Delhi Police, said officials.
The PWD has also prepared estimates for the next five years for the maintenance of the CCTV cameras. As per the initial estimates, Rs 50 crore is expected to be spent in the current financial year, followed by Rs 300 crore in 2026-27, Rs 93.84 crore in 2027-28, Rs 50.65 crore in 2028-29, Rs 50.65 crore in 2029-30, Rs 50.65 crore in 2030-31 and Rs 50.62 crore in 2031-32.
Officials said that cages to protect the cameras will also be mounted on poles. Further, cameras will be powered by 5000 solar panels along with lithium-ion batteries with a minimum backup of 14 hours and will be installed at places where electricity is not available, said officials.
“The CCTV cameras installed will also be equipped with over 12,1000 uninterrupted power supply (UPS) with sealed maintenance-free batteries with a minimum backup of 30 minutes. Further, 17100 suitable outdoor pole mountable racks for equipment, NVRs , batteries and storage,” said officials.
