MUMBAI: Setting up CCTV cameras will become mandatory in new buildings in Maharashtra, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh told the Legislative Council on Wednesday.
The CCTV cameras will be connected to the state Home department’s Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), he added.
The announcement came while the opposition BJP has been aggressively raising the issue of “rising” crimes against women in the state.
“We will amend the current rules and make setting up of CCTV cameras mandatory in every new building coming up in the state. We will also connect the feed of such CCTV cameras with our existing CCTNS network,” Deshmukh said while replying to a calling attention on the crime against women.
The Home minister further said that 5000 more CCTV cameras will be added to the existing network in Mumbai.
Deshmukh also said the ‘Manodhairya’ scheme will be modified to include other inflammatory items such as petrol or diesel among others which are used for attacking women in many crimes.
The state-run scheme currently caters to the victims of rape, acid-attack survivors and children who are victims of sexual offences.
When the members raised issues related to counselling of women victims, Deshmukh said, “Pune Police runs a ‘Bharosa’ cell where trained staff counsel survivors of sexual assault.
“We will try to open such cells across Maharashtra,” he added.
Deshmukh later told the Legislative Assembly that the government has taken steps like setting up the CCTNS system for online filing of FIRs and proposed installation of six CCTV cameras in each police station across the state towards upgradingthe crime investigation system.
Replying to a calling attention noticeon rising incidents of crime against women, Deshmukh assured of bringing a bill on the lines of the Dish Act.
Deshmukh’s speech drowned in din as members of the BJP kept raising slogans in the Well of the House for a government resolution honouring Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.
Criticising the BJP MLAs, Praniti Shinde (Congress) and Sunil Prabhu (Shiv Sena) said, “Yesterday, they wanted to speak on crime against women, and todaywhen the issue is being taken up, they are not participating”.
Meanwhile, Deshmukh said1,07,707 cases of crime against women were registered between 2014 and 2019.
He later told reporters there are 1150 police stations in Maharashtra and that the tendering process is in the final stages to set up 6900 CCTV cameras (six cameras in each police station).
Source: Press Trust of India