‘Send Addl DCP rank officers in CCTV coordination and monitoring meeting’ As air gets deadlier, Gurugram residents launch ‘Mujhe jeene do’ campaign

NEW DELHI: No officer below the rank of additional deputy commissioner of police should attend the CCTV coordination and monitoring meeting, said Special Commissioner of Police to senior officers in Delhi Police. The move came after a meeting, held in last month, between senior officials of Delhi Police regarding the functioning of CCTV cameras in the city.

"It has been observed that different officers attend coordination meeting regarding CCTV functioning on different dates. As per standing order, additional DCSP in districts is designated as a nodal officer," reads a letter written by Special Commissioner of Police (operations) to senior officers.

According to police sources, the letter was sent to Special CSP (law and order), crime and Joint CSP ranges and crime.

The letter further reads that a meeting was held on October 30 in which it was found that the officers attending the meeting were not aware of the number of CCTV and automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras installed in the districts and details of their functioning. It was also found that sometimes ACPS are attending the meeting instead of the nodal officers.

"You (senior officers) are requested to direct your nodal officer to come fully prepared for the meeting with all details in the next meeting. Henceforth, no officer below the rank of Additional DCP should attend the meeting," sources said quoting letter contents.

Adding further, sources said that during the meeting, it was pointed out that no police officers were monitoring or deployed in monitoring room in police stations in some districts.

"Senior officers were told to deploy at least one knowledgeable police officer in each of the control room," sources added.

It was also observed that there was no monitoring of alerts from ANPR cameras by the districts.

"As per standing order 397/10, it is the responsibility of the district to monitor and repair the CCTV cameras once it is installed and accepted by the user district. The nodal officer should liaise with ECIL officer and get the defective cameras repaired as soon as possible. The proposal for repairing is not being followed up with PHQ (DCP/GA office) by user district," the letter reads.

The Special CP also told senior officers that it has been observed that districts and user unit are not sending the status of working and non-working CCTV cameras to DCP (P&L) office.

GURUGRAM: Already facing the brunt of inhaling poisonous and unhealthy air, Wednesday proved to bring in more bad news for the residents of Gurugram with air quality levels reaching severe category for the second consecutive day.

The air quality index recorded in Gurugram was at 420 -450 micrograms per cubic meter.

Worried over the quality of air certain citizen groups of Gurugram are undertaking the campaign “Mujhe jeene do” (let me live). Under this campaign, the citizens plan to bring to the notice of the government and the district administration of the various measures that are causing pollution in the city.

Some of the major factors that are causing the pollution in the city cited by the residents to include burning of waste in the open, construction waste, vehicular pollution and large movement of diesel autos

An the event was held on November 9 in which the residents discussed the harmful aspects of burning waste in the open and the failure of the administration to curtail the menace.

The citizens have also brought to the notice of the government on the inability of the administration to stop the movement of diesel autos. It is estimated that there are over 10,000 autos that are plying in the city.

This is not for the first time when citizens have taken a proactive step in the environmental matters of the city. In what can be considered in the first, of its initiative the residents of Gurugram invented Raahgiri in which two hours of every Sunday in a prominent street of the city were only reserved for walkers.

This concept used to be first held only at Galleria Market but subsequently, due to the active participation of the residents, it also began to be held in other parts of the city.

In times when the forest of Aravallis is in danger of getting lost due to urbanisation most of the residents have come on the streets and shown their dissent. They have also gone forward and file petitions in the judiciary that has prevented the state government to not take any extreme step.

Most of the condominium, societies have also begun taking steps to make themselves secure from the deadly impact of pollution.

The residents of Mapsko Casabella society contracted the few men for water sprinkling through hose pipes in their society.

There are now plans for these forms of initiatives to be also undertaken in other residential societies.