MARGAO
Big Brother, housed in the South Goa district police headquarters, has come in handy for the men-in-uniform to zero in on traffic violators in the commercial capital.
Days after the revival of the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) surveillance cameras, traffic violators are being hauled up for violations of the motor vehicle rules.
The CCTV camera monitoring room in the district police headquarters has started generating notices for the traffic violations spotted on the cameras. As many as 130 notices have been generated and sent to violators to date, with senior traffic police officials saying that this is just the beginning.
Around 23 cameras, which have been either repaired or replaced by the Margao Municipal Council, are helping the traffic police to spot traffic violators in the city.
DySP Traffic Prabodh Shirwaikar informed that the traffic monitoring cell has issued around 130 notices to the violators since the CCTV surveillance cameras were reviewed last month.
“Right now, around 23 cameras are operating in the city at strategic locations. The number of surveillance cameras will go up further once more locations are finalized by the authorities,” he said.
Margao Municipal Council Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes informed that the MMC and traffic police will finalize the top priority and strategic areas in the city for the installation of additional cameras in the future.
“We had discussions with the District Collector Ajit Roy and the district police chief South Pankaj Kumar Singh. We will soon finalize the top priority areas to install additional cameras in the city,” the Chief Officer added.
The defunct CCTV surveillance cameras, which
were installed under the MPLAD scheme of South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha in 2014, were revived after the cold-blooded murder of young city jeweller Swapnil Walke on September 2.
The need for CCTV surveillance cameras was felt after the Margao police were found seeking CCTV footage of private commercial establishments in a bid to track down the assailants involved in the gruesome murder of the jeweller.
