Rail Board sets Sept 30 to complete Phase-1 of CCTV surveillance

Consequent upon a discussion chaired by the Union Railway Minister in October last year, the board had issued a fresh communique last week, instructing officials to extend the CCTV surveillance in their respective zones. Umesh Balonda, Executive Director (Telecom division) of the Railway Board, in his circular issued on January 16, had advised the zonal managers to provide CCTV cameras at other offices too as per the requirement deemed necessary by them.

“Since present CCTV cameras are IP (Internet Protocol)-based, networking infrastructure of RailNet available in the offices may be used to the extent possible to optimise the cost,” added the circular, copy of which is available with DT Next.

Going by the circular, the principal chief signal and telecom engineers in headquarters, divisional railway managers and principal head of departments have been empowered to decide the type of system and specification to be provided in offices.

The board has set September 30, 2020, as deadline to complete the first phase of security surveillance project for which zones have been ordered to sanction necessary works.

Officials of the Southern Railway (SR) zone believe the ministry would widen the scope of the project to other areas under the second phase, which would bring the railway areas outside the surveillance net. Currently, priority was being accorded to step up vigil only in major stations.