Chennai: Nearly 10 months after the brutal murder of Infosys employee Swathi at Nungambakkam railway station, the promised CCTV surveillance coverage at all suburban railway stations in Chennai remains only on paper. As per a RTI reply from the southern railways, CCTV cameras are functioning only at stations like Chennai Central, Beach, Egmore, Mambalam, Tambaram, Basin Bridge and Thiruvallur. There was no new addition in the last one year.
It may be recalled that immediately after Ram Kumar, a jilted lover, murdered Swathi in June 2016, the railways had promised installation of CCTV cameras in all the railway stations in Chennai to enhance safety. As per the new plan, the project of installation of CCTV cameras in railway stations all over the country has been given to Railtel India, which had floated tenders for the same. "It will take another 12 to 18 months for installation of surveillance cameras in railway stations," informed a railway official.
A total of 108 stations in Tamil Nadu were selected for installing surveillance cameras and of them, as many as 82 are in Chennai division and Nungambakkam station is to be taken up in the first phase. It may be noted that more than Rs. 536 crore revenue was recorded in the 2015-16 financial year in the Chennai Breach - Tambaram section. During the same period, over Rs.936 crore was generated in the Chennai Central - Thiruvallur section and another '24 crore in Royapuram - Gummidipoondi section, an RTI reply to social activist V Santhanam, disclosed.
