CCTVs to check crime in Delhi

Starting next January, CCTV cameras will be set up in ten locations, including markets and railway stations, a senior police official told the BBC.

Hundreds of such cameras would be in place by the time Delhi hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2010, he said.

Delhi, which has one of the highest crime rates, will be the first Indian city to be extensively covered by CCTV.

A senior Delhi police official Karnal Singh said a central monitoring station would be controlling and keeping track of the cameras.

Another police official said the cameras will help to track down criminals.

Fears

"They may not be successful in pre-empting crimes, but it will certainly help in post-incident analysis as it did with the London blasts," he said.

Delhi has already put up a few cameras to monitor traffic on a few roads.

Some 250 CCTV cameras have been already put up in the 10 operating stations of the city's high-tech metro railway system.

CCTVs are commonly used these days in many Indian schools, colleges, homes, offices, banks and inside automated teller counters.

However, some fear that installing CCTVs on streets will be an invasion of privacy.

"What we do on the streets, people with whom we are walking, talking, possibly even smooching your girlfriend will be there for people to see," a call centre executive Abhijit Sharma said.

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