MARGAO
When the rising number of road accidents, including fatalities, seemed to have woken up the government agencies to come out with measures to arrest the accident rate, Big Brother continues to remain in sleep mode in the commercial capital.
Strange it may seem but true that when the traffic authorities are weighing various options, including CCTV technology, to reign in on traffic violators, the CCTV cameras across Margao city lie defunct.
There seemed no urgency from the Margao Municipal Council to initiate temporary measures to revive the CCTV surveillance cameras. Instead, they look forward to South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha and the Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar sanctioning the CCTV project for the commercial capital.
Take note, the CCTV surveillance project had seen the light of day in Margao around nine years ago, courtesy of MP Francisco Sardinha’s MPLAD scheme. Sadly, the CCTV surveillance cameras have been down and out since then for want of maintenance by the civic body.
A number of CCTV surveillance cameras, around 23 in number, were revived by the civic body post-murder of young city jeweller Swapnil Walke around two years ago, but the cameras are now all down and out for want of maintenance.
Former Chief Officer Rohit Kadam made an attempt to revive the CCTV cameras last year during his short stint in office, but the effort ended in vain as the contractor submitted a report that the cameras are beyond repairs. Another attempt by Kadam to rope in Corporates to revive the CCTV cameras via Corporate Social Responsibility met the same fate.
Incumbent Chief Officer Manuel Barretto has informed that the MMC has sent in a proposal to the two MPs to explore the possibility of funding the CCTV project through their MPLAD scheme.
Sources, however, pointed out that it’s not clear whether the proposal has found favour with the two MPs and when exactly the CCTV surveillance cameras will finally take shape in the commercial capital.
Traffic cops pointed out that the CCTV surveillance cameras would have helped the men in uniform to effectively reign in on the traffic violators through the control room. “We have stopped issuing notices to the traffic violators from the control room since the cameras lay defunct,” a traffic officer said.
In fact, the officer pointed out that the Traffic Cell had written umpteen letters to the Margao Municipal Council to revive the CCTV project but in vain.
