Kakkanad: The Ernakulam Collectorate is all set to beef up the security in and around its compound by installing 100 new surveillance cameras. The plan is to seek CSR funds from public sector undertakings (PSUs) for the purpose, as government allocation is unavailable.

Currently, 65 out of the 92 cameras installed earlier at the Collectorate located in Kakkanad are dysfunctional. With the government providing no funds for repairs or installing new cameras, the district authorities decided to approach the public sector units. Certain PSUs have already expressed willingness to grant the necessary amount, on receiving a formal request from the District Collector.

The district officials said that cameras will be installed as soon as the government gives its approval. Incidentally, the fifteenth anniversary of an explosion that occurred in the Collectorate falls next month. It was after this blast that cameras were installed for the first time in the Collectorate. During the initial years, maintenance and repairs were carried out regularly. However, the work stopped after some years when the contract expired. In fact, the government still owes money to the agency which installed the cameras.

Under the latest plan, new cameras will be installed at the Collector’s chamber, rooms of the Deputy Collectors, administration, magisterial, accounts, establishment, land acquisition, revenue recovery and land reforms sections in the main hall of the Collectorate, corridors, waiting area for visitors, entrance and staircases.

The authorities realized that most of the cameras were dysfunctional while checking for visuals after some thefts and other illegal activities were reported at the Collectorate.

The entire compound of the Collectorate and the first floor of the Civil Station building, where the Collectorate functions, will be under complete surveillance. High-resolution cameras will be installed on all the four sides of the Civil Station complex to cover the entire compound.

District authorities said that they hope to obtain the necessary permissions from the government before the fifteenth anniversary of the blast next month. “The electrical wing of the Public Works Department (PWD) will be assigned the task of preparing an estimate and carrying out the work. Though the PWD and Nirmithi Kendra had finalised an estimate earlier, it has become obsolete. We need a new estimate now,” said an official at the Collectorate.