Bhadrak: Even as the cases of loot, robbery and snatching cases are on the rise in Bhadrak town, the proposed CCTV surveillance system is yet to take off here.
There are three police stations – Town Police Station, Rural Police Station and Old Market Police Station – to control criminal activities in and around the town. Yet, 262 cases have been registered at Town Police Station to this date this year. Similarly, during the same period, Rural Police Station and Old Market Police Station have registered 481 and 165 cases respectively.
The then Director General of Police Rajendra Prasad Sharma had taken a review meeting at the SP office here November 12, 2018 where he directed to install CCTV cameras at strategic locations, given the increasing criminal activities in the town. He had also informed that the state police initiated steps for setting up of ‘model control rooms’ at Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj.
But the work on installation of CCTV cameras has not been started yet.
Local residents allege that cases of bike lifting, snatching, robbery cases are on the rise. The police are doing nothing but registering cases.
“About 15 bikes have been lifted in the last two months. At five places, miscreants looted money from bike dickeys and robbed senior citizens,” they alleged adding that the police are not able to arrest even one miscreant involved in the cases.
According to advocate Atish Behera, if the police had installed CCTVs at important locations, at least some of the miscreants could have been behind the bars now. The police could have been able to keep a tab on the movement of criminals with the help of video footage.
When contacted, sub divisional police officer Jalandhar Jali said that there are specific teams formed to track the movement of criminals. In fact, installation of CCTV cameras is the duty of the district administration and municipality.
On the other hand, Collector Gyanaranjan Das said, “The administration does not have enough money to carry out the project. It would be better if carried out by the district police or from the fund of any political leader.”
PNN