The CCTV cameras were bought, brought and installed at different places in the port town two months ago, but the equipment is yet to be put to effective use due to one simple reason: the officials are yet to switch them on!
It may sound strange, but the CCTV cameras installed by South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha on November 23, 2013 to monitor crimes and traffic violations in the port town have remained unused. And the CCTV monitors installed at two different places in Vasco have been virtually ineffective – they functioned only for one day in the last two months and the CCTV monitor installed at the Vasco Traffic Cell has not been used at all so far.
When contacted, MMC Chief Officer Y B Tavde insisted that the agency has completed the installation of all CCTV cameras and clarified that the CCTV monitor is in order.
“The monitor is not being used to display the images from CCTV cameras as there is no one to monitor them,” justified Tavde.
When informed that the agency was yet to install the CCTV cameras at some places, Tavde shot back: “The agency has completed its job.”
When Herald insisted on checking the records, Tavde summoned an officer and was told that four cameras were not connected to the monitor.
“The MMC is against the installation of the monitor in the council hall and is planning to move a resolution to get the monitor shifted to the South Goa collector’s office,” said Tavde.
Police Inspector Sudesh Narvekar of the Vasco Traffic Cell (VTC) claims that the CCTV monitor at the VTC is not being used as the agency is yet to install new software.
“There is a proposal to shift the CCTV monitor to the South Goa police headquarters so that traffic violations can be monitored from there and accordingly, fines can be levied on the traffic violators. What is the use of monitoring footage on CCTV cameras when the fines come from the Margao Traffic Cell,” asked PI Narvekar.
“Using a CCTV monitor at the VTC to curb traffic violations will be a lengthy process as details of the traffic violators has to be sent to the Margao Traffic Cell, who in turn, issues the fines and sends them back to the VTC,” PI Narvekar added.
According to VTC sources, four CCTV cameras installed at the IOC Junction, Mangor Junction and another two other locations in Vasco are yet to be connected to the CCTV monitor.
“While these cameras are yet to be connected, there are some others places in Vasco where CCTV cameras are yet to be fitted even though the agency has made provisions to install them. The agency has haphazardly fitted the CCTV cameras without taking the VTC into confidence,” the source said.
“Instead of fitting the cameras at crossroads to monitor traffic movement and other antisocial elements, the agency fitted the cameras wherever it deemed fit,” the source added.
When contacted, a representative of the agency, Nupur Techonology, who identified himself as Sandeep, clarified that all the necessary software had been installed on the CCTV systems.
When asked to comment that four CCTV cameras were yet to be connected to the CCTV monitor and that the software was yet to be installed at the VTC, Sandeep asked Herald to contact his boss, Rajesh Dhulupkar. However, repeated efforts to contact Dulupkar on his mobile phone proved futile.
