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Camera Draped And Traffic Snarls

Updated on 08 December, 2012

Toying with the tools that costs millions to the public money, the Patna Traffic Police continues to feign both the public and itself as a full calendar year is to complete in a couple of days and the system is not functioning. Back to the memory lane, the city administration installed surveillance camera at 4 major roundabouts in Patna promising to monitor and regulate the traffic. The intiative took space at almost every major dailies and the traffic police got deluge of encomium. They are not just another CCTV camera. They are IP cameras run on Internet Protocol streamlines real time visual data to the control room via high bandwidth internet connection. Actually this is how traffic system gets regulated in cities like Newyork, London, Amsterdom, Tokyo etc.

The height of negligence come to light when the camera at Patna Jn roundabout continues to draped by a rally poster for 3 weeks and nobody from the administration took care of. When I talked to Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amrit Raj, he told “We are planning to shift the surveillance base of the CCTV cameras to the new Traffic police station (at Gandhi Maidan).”, though my question was straight about the illegal draping of camera. Anyway it is well known that CCTV cameras were installed at four roundabouts — Station, Exhibition Road, Kotwali and Income Tax — on August 20. But even the SSP claims that these are not being utilised properly. 

The new plan of surveillance not withstanding from day one said officers in traffic police headquarter in Patna.  To begin with, the plan to install the surveillance cameras faced a number of hurdles since it was announced by then SSP Alok Kumar on December 24 last year. Kumar had launched a website and announced that commuters would be able to get regular traffic updates by logging into it.

Initially the project had a three-week deadline but it's about to complete a full calendar year with no frution. Handicapped by technical personnel in force, slower internet connection and paraphernalia of excuties, the administration felt no regret at all. Instead, the perfunctory police system of the state capital blames the Patna Municipal Corporation for getting the poject delayed. A centralised monitoring system was installed at the office of the traffic SP at the headquarters then. But there were not enough staffs to monitor the visuals” 

If bank's ATM, Stock exchange and media houses transfers high density real-time data and visuals using VSAT technology in this very city, using the available infrastructure, isn't it embrassing for the administration to give excuses like slower internet connection or poor bandwidth for the successful implementation of the project. To say without euphemism, It is just another way of procrastinating.

Traffice SP of capital is in New Delhi right now and about to tour Odisha for learning skills on how to manage traffic. With all due respect we have to say that One can not get a photograph with a draped camera. Does this too need learning. And for such learning roaming around the world on public money - Is this not a sheer wastage of public money?

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