CG Block has installed 48 CCTV cameras covering all the lanes of its block, at a cost of more than Rs 8 lakh that it has borne out of its own funds.
The decision to put the block under electronic surveillance was taken last year after a spate of robberies in June. Then began the process of planning and raising funds. The cameras were finally installed about two months ago and were being tested before being formally inaugurated by mayor Krishna Chakraborty on May 29.
“I congratulate CG Block for not just pulling this off but also doing it entirely out their own pocket. Other blocks have been consulting me about installing CCTVs and I’ve been citing your example and asking them to go ahead,” said Chakraborty.
Assistant commissioner of police Santanu Koar was also present. “Not just CG but neighbouring blocks will also be benefited by this initiative. Hope other blocks emulate you,” he said. Deputy mayor Anita Mondal, who is also the local councillor, was present too and congratulated the block for its effort.
Block president Shymal Gan, along with a representative of Digital World, the company that installed the CCTVs, demonstrated the use of the cameras on a giant screen installed at the CG Block community hall for the event. Gan and general secretary Sankar Prosad Deb also answered residents’ questions about the mechanism. Curious residents and post-bearers of neighbouring blocks like BG, BH, BJ and CJ had come to take notes.
The camera monitoring room behind the community hall
The backstory
It started in end-June last year when six homes were broken into in a single week and even more such attempts were thwarted. “Given the number of senior citizens living in the block, we couldn’t take a chance,” said Deb, who had mooted the idea of installing CCTVs at a meeting in 2020 itself. But the idea picked momentum after the robberies.
A team from Jadavpur University was roped in for consultation with their internal advisory committee. “A team sent by the inspector-in-charge of Bidhannagar East police station Mani Shankar Sengupta shared expertise too,” said Deb.
The technology
A room has been allotted for monitoring and analysing the footage behind the community hall and the recordings will be stored for 30 days.
The cameras have been fixed atop lampposts and — in places where the right angle wasn’t available — balconies of residents. Six residents have also allowed the committee to install electric sub-meters in their homes to power the CCTVs. The cost will be borne by the block.
The cameras use “armoured cables”, which are much stronger and last longer than regular ones. “Not one of them was damaged in the recent squalls. The camera recordings continued even if internet cable lines snapped,” Deb said.
The project cost has been more than Rs 8,50,000 and was funded partially by the block’s savings and the rest by residents. “We have about 248 plots and some 220 active residents, who have paid at least Rs 3,700 in two installments. Many of them have paid more so they could see this project materialise,” said Deb.
The camera monitoring room behind the community hall
Safer and cleaner
The block’s security secretary Rohan Chatterjee said the cameras have, in fact, made things easier for their four night guards of the block. “Previously the guards would do rounds of the lanes on cycles every hour but now one of them sits in the monitor room and asks the others to go over whenever he sees anything suspicious in any lane. The system is organised and foolproof,” says Chatterjee.
“The CCTV is a great reassurance for residents like me who are out on work the entire day, leaving their homes empty. We, women, who return late and walk home from the bus stops are feeling more secure in the dark lanes too,” said Piyali Guha.
The last two months of trial runs have led not just to a safer neighbourhood but also a cleaner one. “Ever since word has spread about the surveillance, there has been a 90 per cent drop in domestic helps dumping garbage bags here and there. Low-hanging fruits like mango and jackfruit in our green verge lie untouched. This was unthinkable in previous years when they would disappear before even ripening adequately,” smiled Deb.