Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The installation of substandard close circuit cameras and the increasing rate of crime in the federal capital Islamabad have thwarted the Islamabad Safe City Project, which costs billions of rupees and due to which the interior ministry is perplexed.

The Islamabad Capital Territory Police and NADRA have held each other responsible. The Chinese company which installed the cameras has also been conveyed several complaints regarding out of order CCTV cameras, whereas in the darkness of night, the switching off of the cameras has made the police suspicious. The cameras installed on important roads and highways seem to be a cheating tactic. Reliable sources told Daily Times that the safe city project was hijacked by the corrupt mafia right from the beginning.

The government signed the agreement with a Chinese firm in 2009 to make the federal capital a crime free city, to keep a vigilant eye on terrorists and issuing challan tickets to drivers on traffic violations like the developed countries. The cost of the project was Rs 10 billion. The sources also said that some important personalities of the former government made efforts to get huge kick backs from the project after which the project was challenged in the Supreme Court. A three-member bench of the court had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to look into the matter thoroughly, due to which the project was extraordinarily delayed and some five years lapsed without starting physical work on it.

Afterwards the PML-N government restarted negotiations with the Chinese firm and it was settled that the project would be restarted on the terms of condition of the original contract that was signed in 2009. China also agreed to give a soft loan of Rs 110 billion for the project. After that the project was again kicked off in 2014.

The sources said that some 1800 cameras had been installed on the important roads and highways of Islamabad, which are connected to a network, linked with optic fibre in the radius of 500 kilometres.

The project was handed over to NADRA with the cooperation of the district administration and the intelligence agencies. It was also planned to send some 200 personnel of the Islamabad Police to China for special training.

The system after screening the suspects sends a report to the command and control centre. After that the Rapid Response Force (RRF) reaches the pointed area within three minutes. Before the inauguration of the project, the federal interior minister had terminated the services of 37 employees who got a three-month training. Now efforts are being made to run the projects through raw hand staff.

The sources said that as the cameras were not functioning well so the personnel of RRF who were rarely seen in the city had also vanished. By virtue of the non operational safe city project, the crime rate in the capital is on the rise day by day. The interior ministry was told that the police posts situated adjacent to these gadgets do not come under coverage of these cameras whereever these were installed.

The cameras that are installed under the project on Constitution Avenue, Express Highway and Chak Shahzad Road are switched off after sunset. After the switching off of these cameras, the rule of the police and other anti social elements begins. The sources said that the safe city project would be a failure for the interior ministry like NECTA as the corrupt black sheep present in the police and administration would not let the project be successful. This is due to thefact that if the project was accomplishment they cannot take bribes and extortion money openly. As the Eid is getting closer, the police by setting up temporary pickets, have started the Eidi campaign in the name of traffic challans against which the citizens are protesting.

When Daily Times contacted the SP In Charge Safe City, he expressed unawareness regarding the switching off of the cameras. However, he said that NADRA controlled the system and any information in this regard might be taken from the authority. He said that the CCTV Cameras were working on solar panels. When contacted Inspector Tahir, PRO to IG Islamabad, he said that he did not have any record regarding those culprits who were apprehended on the indication of CCTV cameras.