When the shocking news of the cold murder of young Swapnil Walke came to haunt the police, the men-in-uniform literally hopped from one premises to another with the hope of gathering vital clues of CCTV footage to assist in the investigations.
In fact, the police were left with no option than to seek CCTV footage from the shops and establishments with the CCTV project in both Margao and Fatorda down in the dumps.
The episode has only thrown up the same old question “ why are the district police, the district administration and the Margao Municipal Council, dragging its feet in reviving the CCTV project, which has been lying in the dumps for want of repairs and maintenance till date.
And, not to mention the ambitious Rs 3.68 crore CCTV project sanctioned for Fatorda area by then Rajya Sabha MP, late Shantaram Naik, which could not take off for want of codal formalities.
Police officials in the know pointed out that a centralised CCTV system would have helped the men-in-uniform to keep track of the culprits in Wednesday’s murder case, but in vain. “The CCTV system installed during the fag end of then MP Francisco Sardinha at a cost of Rs 90 lakh is lying in the dumps for want of repairs and maintenance. And, the CCTV project mooted for Fatorda by the late Rajya Sabha MP also failed to take off because of issues relating to codal formalities,” the source said.
A senior police officer told The Goan that the centralised CCTV system which was installed with MPLAD funds from then South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha and operated from the South Goa district police headquarters is no longer in operation. “The CCTV project was taken up with a two-fold objective, one to keep the traffic violators at bay and second to maintain surveillance against anti-socials and miscreants involved in property offences,” informed a police officer.
Sadly, the project has been lying in the dumps for a long time with no agency coming forward to sign an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) with the contractor. “The traffic police no longer monitors the screens in the district headquarters as the cameras are down and out. The CCTV cameras had helped the traffic personnel to detect traffic offences by sitting in the office. Even the police used to take help of the CCTV to lay a track on anti-socials involved in property offences,” the officer added.
In fact, a traffic officer told The Goan that the Margao Traffic Cell might have made huge correspondence with the Margao Municipal Council and other authorities with the hope of getting the CCTV cameras revived in the city, but in vain.
Sources in the know informed that work on the CCTV project had commenced in Fatorda area, before then district Collector, scrapped the project after it came to light that work on the project was taken up without complying with the codal formalities. Surprisingly, nothing has been heard on the Fatorda CCTV project till date.
