Kolkata: The Maa flyover will stay shut between midnight and 4 am till April 6 (Saturday) for cleaning of the CCTVs installed on it. The 4-day partial shutdown had started from last Tuesday night. This initiative of CCTV clean-up will be conducted every month.
A complete overhaul of the 20 odd CCTV cameras, including checking their workability, will be carried out every two months.This was decided by the KMDA and the Kolkata Police jointly.
“While KMDA carries out regular checks on the flyovers, we have requested for more frequent checks as often the CCTV footage appears grainy. It becomes difficult to read the number plates at night,” explained an officer at Lalbazar.
“The KMDA is working on the CCTVs on one lane at a time between midnight and 4 am,” explained an officer.
Lalbazar has made it compulsory for every police station and traffic guard to report damaged CCTV cameras on a daily basis. The report should highlight if the images are grainy and if the device needs rectification.
Sources said depending on the requirement, Lalbazar would help acquire, install and repair CCTV cameras at police stations and on roads. “It was while reviewing the same that the Lalbazar realized the need for overhauling CCTV cameras at shorter intervals,” stated an officer.
Cops said they had registered 80 to 100 cases of speeding every week starting from Jan to March this year on the busy flyover stretch.
Cops wish to increase the number of CCTV cameras on Maa Flyover to at least 14 on each flank.
The extra speed display boards had already been set up, said sources.
The applications are able to detect vehicles moving at and above a particular speed and up to 120kmph.
The system should generate citation notices through the present system prevalent for Kolkata Traffic Police.
“The upgraded system automatically detects registration plates in the captured videos in real time and subsequently performs OCR of the licence plate in standard fonts and formats, said the cops.