Àhmedabad: The state organizations in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad had introduced no less than 2,000 reconnaissance cameras to keep a beware of the wrongdoing in the city going from fasten grabbing to street mishaps, among others.
However, the dust problems continue to wreak havoc in Ahmedabad, which is historically referred to as ‘Garbadad’ by Mughal emperor Jahangir as the dust covers the camera lenses and also blurs the images of the lawbreakers in the city.
The city’s civic body receives at least 30-odd service requests for fixing the out-of-focus cameras each week. Reports suggest that at least 7-10 complaints are of the thick layer of dust covering the camera glassware, thereby making it difficult for the cops to identify the culprit. Obstruction by tree branches, birds perching on the camera hood also alter the camera angles and make it difficult for the cops to identify the criminals.
“Every week, we witness 30-40 cameras produce blurry visuals due to dust covering the lenses,” a report published by Times of India quoted a police officer as saying. Moreover, the vision is also hampered owing to construction work by AMC or private contractors.
The dusty cameras are thereby hindering crime detection in the city. For instance, two murder incidents that took place in June 2019 are yet to be cracked owing to unclear camera visuals of the crime. Also, the investigation related to the body of an infant girl floating in Sabarmati has been hampered due to unclear visuals.
The CCTV cameras in the city have been mounted under various government schemes. At present, as per the officials, 97% of the AMC’s CCTV’s are under working condition and only 3% face installation issues.
A senior officer, while commenting on the issue said, “Frankly, the smart city project is yet to go ‘officially live’. The AMC will assign operations and maintenance contracts in a few days to the vendor, after which operational issues like weekly or monthly maintenance activities will get streamlined,”.
