CCTV at gateways to the city on the blink

CHENNAI: If something similar to Wednesday’s terror strikes in Mumbai were to happen in Chennai’s suburbs, the police here wouldn’t have a vital piece of information to crack the case: Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera footage. For, CCTV cameras at three major gateways into the city have been dysfunctional since last year. Sadly, a proposal sent to the State government last year to set up a control room for monitoring these cameras has stayed that way.The suburban police said the cameras at three points — the Kathipara grid separator, the flyover near the airport and at the Porur junction — were installed even before the Suburban Police Commissionerate was formed and the control was with the city police. The city police, who have a centralised control room, monitored the suburban areas as well, besides keeping an eye on all the major junctions in the city where such cameras were installed.It was only after a woman petitioned the Chief Minister’s grievance cell seeking reinvestigation into her husband’s death in an accident near the Kathipara junction that the current Suburban Commissioner Karan Singha realised that the cameras were not functioning.