State plans 5,000 CCTVs cameras for Hyderabad

New Delhi, June 5 : Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday informed that the State Government plans to install about 5,000 CCTV cameras in vulnerable public places throughout Hyderabad City as a part of Safe City Project.

Speaking at the Chief Ministers’ Conference on internal security chaired by the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh here, the Chief Minister said that the State has sought financial assistance from the Central Government for the project. He said that Andhra Pradesh witnessed a number of incidents of terrorist violence since 1992. The recent one was twin blast at Dilsukhnagar on February 21 which claimed 17 lives.

The Chief Minister said that the State Government initiated prompt rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures in shifting the injured to the hospitals, providing all necessary medical help at Government cost at hospitals of their choice, providing an ex-gratia of Rs. 6 lakhs to the kith and kin of each deceased, besides providing a Government job to the kith and kin of those killed and permanently incapacitated etc. “As a policy, we have instituted these measures on a permanent basis. Sincere efforts are being made by National Investigation Agency, State Police and Intelligence Agencies to bring the culprits to book in this case,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the State Government has planned to install about 5,000 CCTVs in vulnerable public places throughout Hyderabad City and also proposed to enact a Legislation namely AP Public Safety (Measures) Enforcement Bill, 2013 for improving security at vulnerable public places. This Act contemplates for putting in place a minimum standard of security measures in terms of access controls and surveillance cameras at the entry and exit points of important and vulnerable places of public gatherings like Shopping Malls, Theatres, Busy Eateries, Industrial Establishments, Educational Institutions, Religious places etc.

Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the State Government has put in place necessary security infrastructure to effectively counter terrorist violence. “We created a specialized intelligence unit and Anti-Terrorist Commando force namely Counter Intelligence Cell & OCTOPUS for dealing with the problem of terrorism. These wings are strengthened by supplementing with human resources, infrastructure, trainings and technical upgradation. A regional hub of National Security Guards (NSG) is set up at Hyderabad by the Central Government for this purpose. We have put in place Standard Operating Procedures for facing Major Terrorist Attacks,” he said.

The Chief Minister stressed the need for upgradation of of Anti- Terrorist Intelligence and Commando Units of the State in terms of Technology, Vehicles, Technical Gadgets for Intelligence Collection, Arms & Ammunition etc. He said the security agencies were facing serious problems in monitoring of communication on Internet, importantly Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Nimbus, Skype and other VoIP channels, because of non- cooperation from these agencies, which have their Headquarters outside India.

“The Terrorists are taking advantage of this situation and using these communication channels for their Anti National Activities. The Central Government may take up this issue with the concerned authorities and find a solution. He said terrorism does not know boundaries. Over the years, terrorists have been able to strike, taking advantage of inherent deficiencies in coordination between agencies. In combating terrorism we have to look beyond the physical boundaries of the States and operate beyond political considerations,” he said.

Praising the the concept of NCTC, Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the move was a well planned initiative to Counter Terrorism as there was an urgent need to tackle the problem by all the States unitedly. “NCTC provides a common platform for collecting, collating and sharing operational information on terrorism related matters,” he said.

Kiran Kumar Reddy said in the process of dealing with terrorist violence, we need to be very sensitive to the fact that only a few misguided individuals get involved themselves in acts of terrorist violence and rest of the Community irrespective of any religion has nothing to do with these acts. Given this fact, the Law Enforcement Agencies need to make every possible effort to keep the communities on their side while identifying those responsible for such acts of mindless violence. Stereo typing and branding of communities at large will not help the ultimate goal of ensuring peace and tranquility in the long term. He said there is a need to initiate confidence building measures on a regular basis in the concerned communities vulnerable for such stereo typing and the media also need to be sensitive to this fact while reporting.

The Chief Minister further listed out some of the measures needed to maintain internal security and combat the menace of extremism. He also made a mention of State-wide centralized Dial 100 Project wherein any citizen from any part of the State can access the police help in emergency through a single three-digit number i.e. 100. He said if this system is supported by a set of dedicated patrol cars with well trained personnel, the quality of service can be further improved.

“After the last meeting on Internal Security, we have recruited more than 13,000 Police Constables and over 2,000 SIs of Police as a part of filling up of all the vacancies at the cutting edge level. The recruitment for another 5000 Police Constables and 2200 SIs is In progress. We are in the process of upgrading all our Police Training Centres and District Training Centres with the help of grants provided under 13th Finance Commission to equip them to train such large numbers at one time. INN