Chennai Corporation expedites CCTV installation in schools

CHENNAI: In a move to make the schools run by the Chennai Corporation safer for girl students, the civic body has expedited the installation of CCTV cameras and assured that the works will be completed in two months.

"Work order to a private firm has been issued based on a resolution passed in the Council meeting recently. The firm has already commenced the works and cameras have been installed in 5 schools," a senior Chennai Corporation official said.

The civic body proposed to implement the project at a cost of around Rs 5.50 crore, but the project cost has been cut down to Rs 4.41 crore after negotiations with the private firm, which has been sanctioned under Nirbhaya Fund. Under the project, as many as 636 CCTV cameras will be installed at 159 school premises, where girl students are studying. Each of the 159 schools will have four cameras. The placement of the cameras has been decided based on the building structure of selected schools. The cameras will ensure safety of around 35,000 girl students, who are studying in those schools.

When asked whether the CCTV cameras would be monitored centrally at the Ripon Building, the headquarters of the civic body, the official clarified that the cameras will not be centrally linked and headmasters of the respective schools will monitor the cameras.

"There is no need for the head office to monitor the day-to-day activities of the schools. Monitors will be placed in the rooms of the headmasters, who will monitor the students regularly," the official said.

The civic body has already installed smart poles at 49 locations so that women in distress could alert police authorities and create a gender lab at Ripon Building. The gender lab conducted a session with the Chennai Corporation engineers, on Thursday, on making the city streets inclusive for women.