Lucknow: In order to fulfil the state's commitment to creating safe and smart cities, the state government, on the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has installed as many as 5,000 CCTV cameras in 16 cities under various departments and schemes, an official statement said.
Every intersection, major road, expressways, railway, and the metro station is covered by cameras that record all the activities. The statement informed that the exercise is being carried out to achieve Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's goal of creating safe and smart cities through The Integrated Command and Control Centre. The Centre, which finds mention in almost every speech of the CM at Prabudh Jan Sammelans, not only seek to monitor and regulate traffic but also keeps a vigil on the activities on the streets through CCTV cameras.
During all these meetings with the intellectuals, the CM said: "Our cities are now getting smart and safe. Now a criminal or an anti-social element, who harasses our sisters and daughters at one
intersection and commits robbery at another, will be caught instantly by the police at the next intersection".
Statement informed that this scheme has been started jointly by the Central and State Governments. The Central government has helped to install CCTVs in cities including Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bareilly, Jhansi, Saharanpur and Moradabad. Besides, grants have been issued by the state government for the installation of cameras in Ayodhya, Mathura-Vrindavan, Firozabad, Meerut, Shahjahanpur, Gorakhpur, and Ghaziabad.
Statement from the UP government added that the Cooperation of private companies has also been robbed into the installation. Under the Smart City Mission, where the Urban Development Department took over the responsibility of installation, CCTVs have been installed by UPDA on expressways, by NHAI on toll plazas, by the railways on railway stations and by the metro administration at metro stations. All these have been linked to the Integrated Command and Control Centres.
On the other hand, installation in institutional finance, such as banks or ATMs, has been done through private companies. The Housing Department has become the nodal agency for tax and registration of shops and markets and for apartments and houses. The monitoring is being done by the Integrated Command and Control Centres.