Rs950m for CCTV cameras at 6,031 polling stations in Punjab

LAHORE: The Punjab government has withdrawn Rs950 million provided to deputy commissioners for the installation of CCTV cameras at 6,031 polling stations and given the funds to the Punjab Safe Cities Authority and Punjab Information Technology Board.

According to the documents received by “Jang”, the decision has been taken in the light of a meeting of the Provincial Apex Committee chaired by the Punjab chief secretary.

According to the documents, the Punjab Safe Cities Authority MD and the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) chairman gave a briefing on the task given by the apex committee regarding the purchase and installation of cameras. In the Apex Committee meeting, spending Rs1 billion on CCTV cameras only for election day was called a waste of money and it was asked to follow an alternative option.

The PITB chairman said in the briefing that if Rs1.5b was released, they could install CCTV cameras at the most sensitive polling stations of the province and for the purchase of the cameras the urgency clause had to be implemented. He said that deputy commissioners had been in various stages of renting CCTV cameras for the elections, so the Punjab Safe Cities Authority and Punjab Information Technology Board should be given immediate permission to purchase cameras.

The PITB chairman said that the cameras, if purchased, would become a permanent asset of the government which could be used by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority after the elections. He gave another option in the briefing and said that they purchase cameras together with the Safe Cities Authority and deputy commissioners should issue a separate tender for their installation through private parties.

The IG police warned in the meeting that it had to be seen whether such a large number of CCTV cameras of this quality would be available in the market as per the SOPs of the Election Commission of Pakistan. In the meeting, orders were also issued to the finance secretary to release more funds in case the expenditure exceeds Rs950 million for the installation of cameras.