Only 5,000 of 7,500 CCTV cameras installed under Safe City project working in Bengaluru  

Out of the 7,500 CCTV cameras installed by the Bengaluru city police under the Safe City project, only 5,000 are working as of now. The remaining 2,500 are expected to become functional by the end of February.

Out of the 7,500 CCTV cameras installed by the Bengaluru city police under the Safe City project, only 5,000 are working as of now. The remaining 2,500 are expected to become functional by the end of February.

“There are some technical problems with the remaining cameras, and they are being fixed. They will start functioning within a month,” a senior police official said.

Even as the police claim that 5,000 cameras are working, citizens from across the city have expressed their disappointment about these cameras being non-functional.  

Recently, when a 12-year-old boy went missing from Whitefield, many in the city came together to coordinate the search efforts for the boy. What surprised the volunteers who were directly involved in the search was the fact that most cameras installed by the police were not working. 

“The majority of CCTV cameras in Whitefield, Marathahalli, and Outer Ring Road areas are not operational. With footage from just one camera from near Kauvery Hospital, the search team was able to track the missing child better. If all the CCTV cameras were operational, perhaps the child could have been found sooner, along with many who are reported missing every day,” said a member of the search team for the boy.  

Similarly, the residents of Talaghattapura alleged that all the 40 cameras installed in the locality under the Safe City project are not working. “They are all high-end cameras, but none is working. No one even knows where the feed from the cameras goes,” said Vajapeyam Srivatsa of Changemakers of Kanakapura Road.

Taking matters into their own hands to have cameras that do not need the involvement of the government, members of the Changemakers of Kanakapura Road pooled in around ₹6 crore to ₹7 crore to procure over a hundred CCTV cameras for Talaghattapura.