Many police stations still don't have CCTV, DCW seeks timeline

New Delhi: Miffed over no CCTV cameras in 82 police stations of the national capital, the DCW on Wednesday asked the Delhi police to give a timeline for bringing these stations under camera surveillance.

Of the 108 police stations that have CCTVs, 64 police stations are such where the CCTVs are non-functional, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) claimed. As per the women’s panel, police stations in Madhu Vihar, Preet Vihar, Ghazipur, Saket, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri, Rajouri Garden, Khyala, Kirti Nagar, Moti Nagar, North Avenue, South Avenue, Vijay Vihar, Rani Bagh do not have CCTVs installed in the premises.

Out of the four hundred thirtyfive CCTVs installed in police stations across Delhi, 196 are out of order, the DCW said. At Anand Parbat police station, all the five cameras installed on the premises are non-functional. Similarly, all the seven CCTV cameras are out of order at Patel Nagar police station.

The women’s panel said that it took “suo-moto cognisance” on the issue in February since the CCTV cameras were reportedly missing at many places despite express orders of the Supreme Court to install CCTV cameras in all police stations.

“To improve the situation, it was decided by Delhi Police to first install CCTVs in 10 police stations as pilot project. However, it is evident that even the pilot project has not been completed since the last 2 years,” the DCW said.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal asked the police to explain why the CCTVs are not operational in 64 police stations. Saying that the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations are crucial for promoting “greater accountability”, Ms Maliwal asked deputy commissioner of police to provide the information to the commission within 10 days. Geeta Colony, Seelampur, Shahdara, Welcome, Nand Nagari, Harsh Vihar, Gokal Puri, Defence Colony, Lodhi Colony are among some of the police stations which has all cameras working.