NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JAN 29
The Greater Chennai Police has installed 121 CCTV Cameras and 8 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras from Porur to Kathipara along Mount-Poonamallee High Road on Tuesday.
The initiative has been taken, realizing that this stretch is prone to traffic violations and vulnerable to incidents of crime.
The cameras, installed every 50m on junctions such as Kathipara flyover, Butt Road, Nandambakkam, Ramapuram, Mugalivakkam, and Porur, have been installed at Rs. 30 lakh. A team of police personnel surveyed the areas and installed the ANPR cameras at places where motorists tend to cross at high speeds at odd hours. The Ramapuram traffic signal on Mount-Poonamalle High Road is officially the most congested junction in Chennai with, on average, more than 1.75 lakh vehicles crossing it every day.
The stretch below the Porur flyover, with 1.27 lakh vehicles crossing every day, is a close second.
The stretch between Porur and Kathipara so far had less than 100 cameras, making it difficult for police to identify and nab those violating traffic rules, including jumping signal, violating stop line rules, riding triples and driving over the speed limit.
Now, ANPR cameras can trace owner details of vehicles that violate rules by reading number plates and help issue e-challans for fines. These cameras will help build a database of vehicles plying on the road and book violators without police personnel out on the road. They will also help trace stolen vehicles. Photos of vehicles flouting the rules will be attached to the e-challans. The cameras will be linked to the transport department database as well to enable the automatic serving of e-challans.
Inaugurating the facility at Nandambakkam, police commissioner A K Vishwanathan said CCTV cameras should be now considered the first eye while solving crime cases. Installation of the camera had brought in a feeling of safety among commuters, particularly women, he said.
