The stretch of the road in Salt Lake’s EE Block where two bike-borne men snatched the gold chain of a woman in her early 60s on Sunday morning does not have CCTV cameras, police said on Monday.
The houses along the stretch, too, do not have CCTV cameras installed outside, officers of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
Most blocks in all three sectors of the township don't have an adequate number of CCTV cameras covering all roads and lanes.
A senior officer of the commissionerate said they had installed CCTV cameras on all major thoroughfares in Salt Lake but many lanes are still not under electronic surveillance.
Another officer said they had repeatedly requested block associations across Salt Lake to install CCTV cameras outside homes so that the lanes are covered.
“We requested the residents at block-level meetings as well as meetings held before Durga Puja to install cameras outside their homes. The requests mostly went unheeded,” the officer said.
“If an area is under electronic surveillance, it becomes easier to crack crimes and track down the perpetrators. Besides, the cameras act as a deterrent to criminal elements,” another officer said.
Mokhtar Khan, president of the EE Block residents' association, said they were planning to set up cameras inside the block.
“A portion of our block abuts on the bank of the Eastern Drainage Canal. The block is quite large. We have held a meeting and decided that we need at least 35 CCTV cameras to cover the entire block,” said Khan.
The association, he said, will call a meeting after Diwali to discuss funds and logistics for the installation of the cameras.
“Snatchings have become common here. On Saturday, a man snatched the cellphone of a domestic help who was walking home and ran away,” said Khan.
There are more than 200 CCTV cameras spread across the main roads and traffic intersections in Salt Lake.
On Sunday morning, Zakiya Rahman had set out from her flat around 7am and barely reached near the EE Block park, a seven-minute walk from her home, when a motorcycle screeched to a halt right beside her.
The pillion rider snatched her chain and pushed her. Even before she could react, the duo fled.
The snatching has triggered fear among elderly residents who regularly go out for morning or evening walks.
Rahman, in her 60s, told this newspaper on Monday that she did not go out for her walk on Monday morning.
“I have decided to walk on my terrace in the morning and evening. I need to keep my diabetes under control,” said Rahman.
Papiya Halder, 65, another EE Block resident, said she too had decided against stepping out for her daily walk. “Not just my daily walk, I have also decided against going to the market after sundown,” she said.
The police failed to arrest anyone in connection with the snatching of Rahman’s chain till late on Monday.