Can’t roll camera, money woes stall CCTV project in Pune Cantonment

Pune: The State Home Departments has hit a roadblock with its ambitious Close Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance programme in Pune Cantonment area over payment of Rs62.87 lakh as road digging charges.

Though the PCB has given its technical go ahead to the project, the permission is completely conditional subject to a commitment that the charges would be paid to the cantonment board. The project completion deadline is August 18.
The Home Department’s CCTV Project in Pune Cantonment is comprised of installation of 56 cameras at 17 locations at strategic locations in the area. In addition to the 56 CCTV’s, the PCB will be installing 13 surveillance cameras at three locations in the area whose estimated cost is Rs40 lakh.
The issue of digging charges was discussed at length during the General Body meeting. CEO K Nagireddy in his presentation before PCB President Brigadier Lalit Joshi said that the PCB will write to the State Government seeking a refund of the road digging charges.
“Only conditional permission can be given with a rider that the road digging charges will have to be borne by the state government. The contractor has said that it was not his responsibility to carry out restoration work after the cable lines are laid for the installation work. During their earlier meeting, they had said that they will do it. If permission is not given, the contractor has threatened to quit,” Nagireddy added.
The contractor M/s Allied Digital Services Limited (ADSL) has been appointed by the state home department to install CCTV surveillance cameras in Pune.