Installing CCTVs at key points : Putting cart before the horse?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 20, 2012 -

A CCTV installed at a key intersection of the city :: Pix - TSE

It is more a case of putting the carriage before the horse. Technology, no doubt is today central to the idea of security and the move made by the State Government to instal Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in key areas of Imphal was undoubtedly dictated by the acts of violence carried out right in the heart of the city with a cockiness that conveyed the message 'we can hit any target when we like.'

In the last couple of years, in the previous two terms of the Congress led SPF Government to be precise, the official residence of the Chief Minister came under attack twice.

A grenade was lobbed inside the highly fortified Assembly Secretariat and a bomb fitted car cooly made its way inside the Raj Bhawan compound, making a joke of the security arrangement there.

Not only this, a powerful explosive fitted on a scooter exploded in all its might and fury at the high security zone, Babupara, where Ministers and other top ranking Government officers are allotted their official quarters.

A number of blasts have occurred at the commercial areas of Imphal and the blood spattered ground, strewn with pieces of human flesh right at the doorstep of the Commando complex at Ragailong some years back continue to haunt the sensibilities of the people. Ditto too the Sangakphan blast last year in August.

Banners urging all concerned not to plant bombs in public places at some of the major commercial centres of Imphal some time back tell a significant story.

These are but merely some examples that come to mind and it is against this backdrop that the State Government went ahead with the plan of installing CCTVs in some key areas of Imphal to help police monitor the movements of the people.

Not bad, considering the fact that planting bombs in public places have rattled the nerves and sensibilities of the people for far too long, but trust the Government to goof up on the first step itself and today the hi-tech approach adopted by the Government seems likely to fall flat on its face.

If the implication of the situation was not so serious, then it would have been easy to give in to the temptation to sit back and have a hearty laugh at the buffoonery being enacted by the State Government in the name of going hi-tech to fight crimes in Imphal.

Installing hi-tech gadgets without the faintest thought on how it should be run has nothing to do with instilling a sense of security in the mindset of the people.

What was on the mind of the high brow think tank of the Government when the plan to instal CCTVs in the heart of the capital city was hatched ?

A school child, with a little knowledge of the mechanics of running technical appliances would have been able to zoom in on the indispensability of uninterrupted power supply to keep the CCTVs running.

Governance and by extension fighting crimes or keeping a close tab on violent activities has nothing to do with installing hi-tech gadgets and leaving it toothless.

Imphal has already experienced the joke of the traffic lights that have been installed at some important points on its roads and now there are the CCTVs to contend with.

Which of these two ultimately go on to occupy the number one slot in the farcical category remains to be seen, but already the writing on the wall is clear.

As things stand today, the non-existent power supply is threatening to derail the hi-tech system that has been put in place and the logical question that follows is why was this aspect not looked into when the CCTVs were installed ?

It reeks of not only incompetency and the failure to see the obvious but also raises a serious poser on why the Government was so keen on rushing ahead with this grandiose scheme without doing its home work.

The stench that accompanies supply/contract/tender/bidding/awarding process, is unmistakable. This is not how a State should be run and certainly not when it involves security.

But then what can one expect from a Government which thought that the best security measure for the Chief Minister was to block all the roads leading to his official residence, when it came under attack the second time, some years back.