Govt plans to install 50K additional CCTV cameras for public safety: PWD officials

New Delhi: The Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) has initiated the planning process for the installation of 50,000 additional CCTV cameras across the city, with an aim to enhance public safety, especially for women, officials said on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had announced the proposal during her recent budget speech, saying that the government would expand CCTV coverage to improve security and surveillance in the national Capital. “The broader idea behind this next phase is to ensure better access to CCTV footage for police and to create a comprehensive citywide monitoring system,” a senior PWD official said. Discussions are currently underway between the Delhi Police, the PWD, and the Home Department to finalise the technical and logistical details of the project, the official said.

Since 2018, the department has installed approximately 2.8 lakh CCTV cameras in two phases. The initiative has been implemented with support from resident welfare associations (RWAs) and market trader associations. Each assembly constituency has around 2,000 CCTV cameras under the existing setup. The department further aims to cover each market and RWA-managed area with approximately 30 to 40 cameras.

“We will improve upon the project by identifying the problems and challenges faced in the previous works; the technical issues and logistics of where to place the cameras will be identified. The target is 50,000 cameras, as announced by the chief minister earlier,” the official added. The existing cameras are maintained by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a central government enterprise. A central command centre at the PWD headquarters monitors the live feed from all cameras.

The system stores footage for 30 days, with an additional five to seven days of reserve backup. The feed is accessible to the PWD, police, district magistrates, and courts.