Puri: At a time when the state government is pumping crores of rupees for the development of the Holy City, many CCTVs installed in the city have developed glitches and are defunct putting the safety of locals as well as tourists in danger.
Taking advantage of the defunct CCTVs, miscreants have been targeting common people on city roads and snatching away money and other valuables from them, sources said.
The district administration and police had installed as many as 150 CCTVs at many strategic places of the city including Srimandir, Grand Road, Hospital Square, Marine Drive and city road to ensure safety for the locals as well as visitors.
Most of these CCTVs were damaged by cyclonic storm Fani that made a landfall on Odisha coast, May 3.
The administration had repaired the CCTVs prior to this year’s Rath Yatra. However, many CCTVs have once again developed technical glitches and turned defunct recently, sources said.
The defunct CCTVs have led to rise in snatching and theft cases at VIP road, City road, College road, Marine Drive and Grand Road, sources said.
A woman was robbed of gold jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh from College road a few days ago. Similarly, miscreants snatched away Rs 10 lakh from a senior citizen by terrorising him with a gun at Badasankha recently. Besides, desperadoes have stolen money from some people near Nayak Plaza on the Grand Road in the last few days.
“Incidents of snatching and theft have gone up in city in recent days. Police have failed to solve at least three major snatching cases. The administration should take immediate steps to repair the defunct CCTVs,” said social activist Pratap Satpathy.
When contacted superintendent of police Umashankar Das said the CCTVs installed at Srimandir and Grand Road are working properly. “Steps will be taken to repair some defunct CCTVs at other places in the city,” he added.