300 CCTV cameras catching you live in Chandigarh, challaning to begin from January

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 28

Around 300 CCTV cameras installed on different junctions of the city are catching you live. A total of 2,000 cameras will go live at 287 junctions by December 31.

For now, these cameras are being used for data collection on a trial basis and challaning will start only from January 2022.

Under the project being undertaken by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), about 80 per cent of the total cameras have been installed and 300 are already live at various locations, including Tribune Chowk, Centra Mall, Faida barrier, Transport light point and Sector 20 Gurdwara light point.

The server is at present based at BEL, Panchkula. Once the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), which is under construction at Sector 17, is ready, all live data will be available here.

“The cameras will catch traffic violations, including jumping red light, overspeeding, driving without seat belt/face mask, zebra crossing parking and talking over the phone while driving,” said an official.

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra, said, “Our ongoing “Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav” event is also about independence from crime and traffic problems. And these cameras will help in a big way.”

One of the camera operators shared, “These cameras will not challan vehicles like ambulances. The cameras will otherwise automatically record every traffic violation and save it in a folder. Then, the police can issue a challan. There is no need for staff to keep tracking the junctions for catching traffic violators.”

Real-time surveillance

The hi-tech cameras are being installed for the real-time surveillance of traffic junctions and other important buildings of the city such as waterworks, parks, government hospitals, community centres, parking locations and schools at around 287 locations.