New Delhi: All religious places like temples, mosques, churches and gurudwaras in the capital have been asked by the Delhi Police to install CCTV cameras in and around their premises as part of extra security measures to prevent any untoward incident.
An advisory was issued to the religious places and bodies running them in the aftermath of an incident of fire in a prominent church in Dilshad Garden area of northeast Delhi on December 1. The Christian community had alleged foul play in the incident.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said the initiative is being taken as part of efforts to ensure collaboration with the public in enhancing security in the city.
"We have started an exercise in the city to identify the areas where we can install cameras through public-private partnership. That is why we are asking hotels, restaurants, commercial areas, offices and religious places so that CCTV cameras can be installed," he said without elaborating further.
Another top police official said, "All the DCPs had sent letters to the management of religious places through the local SHOs to take specific security measures including installation of CCTV cameras in their premises."
He said the directive was issued around a month in the wake of the fire in the church which had triggered strong protest by the Christian community.
Bassi said government planned to install 5,000 cameras in the city out of which 3,900 have already been installed.
He said government was seriously mulling adding another lot of 10,000 cameras to augment security in the city.
The Police Commissioner said 15,000 cameras may not be enough to secure the city and that is why hotels, restaurants and religious bodies are being asked to install them on public private partnership basis.
He said some of the hotels, restaurants, offices and religious places have already installed CCTV cameras inside their premises and police have asked them to have these equipments outside as well.
Bassi said that places like railway stations and religious places where large gatherings assemble are always important from the security point of view because of which police put them on top priority.
