The Bihar government is planning to install CCTV cameras across all panchayats and wards to keep a tab on people flouting prohibition or indulging in other illegal activities.

The move has raised a spectre of Bihar being converted into a “police state”.

“We will cover all panchayats and the wards in them with CCTV cameras. The work will start from the next financial year (2022-23). This will help keep a watch on any violation of liquor ban and on people indulging in other illegal activities,” panchayati raj minister Samrat Choudhary told The Telegraph.

“Ultimately this will provide a safer environment in rural areas of the state. The women will also feel secure in their homes and while stepping outside. This is going to be a game-changer in ensuring a crime-free Bihar,” Choudhary added.

The state government will start installing such cameras on a pilot basis at panchayat buildings soon after the ongoing panchayat polls get over.

Although Bihar went dry in April 2016, the flow and consumption of liquor never stopped.

The minister said his department was going through presentations by various agencies working in the surveillance field. He is keen on having cameras that would work in wireless mode. The footage from them will be stored at designated centralised and secure locations.

Bihar has 8,406 panchayats and around 1.14 lakh wards. Choudhary said around 1.14 lakh to 20 lakh cameras would be needed.

The minister assured that there was no cash crunch for the surveillance project because Bihar would get “Rs 5,200 crore from the Centre for the panchayati raj institutions as part of the 15th Finance Commission recommendations while the state government will provide a grant of Rs 2,000 crore”.

Choudhary said he recently got a 16-camera surveillance unit installed at his house for around Rs 1 lakh.

One camera costs Rs 4,000. Monitors, digital video records and cables are also a part of the set-up.

People from different walks of life have criticised the plan. “This is a misplaced priority, which will have no beneficial results. It is an attempt to foster a police state in disguise under our democratic set-up. It is an illogical move at a time Bihar faces resource crunch in several areas. It could be aimed at benefiting some business houses,” social analyst and former Patna University professor N.K. Choudhary told The Telegraph.

He said maintaining law and order was the real challenge before the government and the police force had failed to curb crimes.

“How many CCTV cameras will the government install? This is a poor yet large state, which can never be fully covered by such gadgets. Those who indulge in crime are no fools. They will evade such cameras, break them or use other methods,” Chaudhary said.

The social analyst also dared the government to “arrest senior politicians and bureaucrats who consume liquor. The law of average suggests that many politicians and bureaucrats must be drinking”.