SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
DHIRAJ HARMALKAR
VASCO: The Vasco Congress Block has blamed the State government for its failure to undertake timely maintenance of the CCTV cameras installed in the Port Town due to increasing theft cases.
Block leader Ularico Rodrigues said that these CCTVs installed were provided a few years back by South Goa Member of Parliament Francisco Sardinha. It is a total failure on the part of the State government and Mormugao Municipal Council for their failure in timely maintaining these cameras.
"The main objective of installing these CCTV cameras was to detect crime and to regulate traffic movement. But by having non-functional CCTV cameras, the administration, especially police, find it difficult to detect the crimes,” opined Ularico.
Later, when asked about the present condition of CCTV cameras, Mormugao Municipal Council Chairperson Damodar Kaskar stated that a few years ago CCTV cameras were installed all over the city under the MPLAD Scheme but after sometime, these CCTV cameras became non-functional.
Kaskar emphasised on the urgency of having CCTV cameras installed in proper condition in the port town.
He said that a few days ago at Khariwado, theft of gold ornaments from a temple had taken place.
Therefore, Kaskar assured that he will write a letter to the concerned authorities to provide new CCTV cameras.
It may be recalled that there were around 52 CCTV cameras installed from the MPLAD funds on November 23, 2013 during Francisco Sardinha’s tenure as a Member of Parliament (MP).
Some spots such as the main town roundabout, Varunapuri junction, Headland Sada junction, Mangor Hill junction, Joshi Square, F L Gomes Road, Baina area were brought under CCTV surveillance back then.
Importance of CCTVs is that on various prime spots cameras are necessary. It helps in detecting traffic violations, crimes and detection of suspicious activities. But most of the CCTV cameras from the town are non-functional since there was no annual maintenance done since their installation.
