Over 7,500 Delhi CCTV cameras offline, safety project of previous Govt in disarray

More than 7,500 CCTV cameras in Delhi, installed under one of the previous government’s flagship initiatives to enhance city safety, were found to be non-functional in a recent safety audit conducted by the Public Works Department (PWD).

Launched in 2020, the ambitious project aimed to make Delhi safer by installing approximately 2.8 lakh cameras across public spaces such as markets, roads, residential colonies, and business centres, in collaboration with resident welfare associations and market unions. However, the latest report submitted in response to a question in the Delhi Assembly revealed that 7,535 cameras are offline .

PWD officials cited multiple reasons for the widespread downtime, including technical faults primarily linked to network providers, power cuts, theft or vandalism, and the dismantling or relocation of cameras. “In the technical fault category, it is mostly the network-providing company that has issues and there is no relay of the live feed at the Central Command Center (CCC), and then there is theft of parts and power cuts which are external factors. We are trying to resolve all this in the future tender,” a PWD official said.

The report raises serious concerns about the efficiency and long-term sustainability of the previous government’s safety initiative. While the project was touted as a major step toward a safer capital, the significant number of dysfunctional cameras underscores gaps in planning, monitoring, and maintenance.

In an effort to address these issues, the Delhi government plans to install an additional 50,000 CCTV cameras and has handed over maintenance responsibilities to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a public sector unit under the Ministry of Defence. PWD officials added that a consolidated maintenance tender is being planned, as currently, multiple contractors handle upkeep.

The previous government had also faced allegations that CCTV coverage was uneven across constituencies, with some areas reportedly receiving fewer cameras due to denial of approvals. The estimated cost for the new round of installation and maintenance is Rs 100 crore .

With safety initiatives losing momentum due to technical and administrative lapses, critics argue that the ambitious vision of a “fully monitored Delhi” remains far from reality.