Vulnerable spots on roads, including the national and State highways, in Tiruvannamalai will be under another layer of surveillance as the district police have introduced high-definition camera-mounted vehicles to patrol these routes every day.
The initiative comes on the heels of four Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) robberies committed in Tiruvannamalai town a few months ago, where the police said the suspects utilised mostly unused stretches and village roads to escape after the theft. As a result, the police have decided to field patrol vehicles equipped with high-resolution cameras to monitor highway roads and intersections that connect to such roads.
The footage will also help the police create a database of routes to prevent crimes and maintain law and order. “Along with Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu, Tiruvannamalai has received these vehicles in the first phase of this project,” K. Karthikeyan, Tiruvannamalai Superintendent of Police (SP), told The Hindu.
Ten vehicles have been earmarked for the exercise initially. Each vehicle, on an average, will be manned by three police personnel and cover at least 60-80 km everyday. Apart from patrolling the highways, the vehicles will be used for crowd control operations during festivals, regulating traffic congestions and monitoring road safety. The cameras have a 360-degree field of vision and are also equipped with night-vision devices. The cameras have a coverage range of 300 m. They can also broadcast live feeds to the common control room at the Tiruvannamalai SP office. The total cost of the project is ₹20 lakh.
Tiruvannamalai district has a total of 477 km of highways, including two national highways – Puducherry-Krishnagiri (NH 77) and Vellore-Thoothukudi (NH 38). Except the national highways, which cover a distance of 152 km, the remaining 14 stretches are maintained by the State Highways Department.
The accident and crime-prone stretches among these include Vandavasi-Arani Road, Tiruvannamalai-Kallakurichi Road, Chengam-Polur Road and Tiruvannamalai-Avalurpet Road. The initiative aims to bring vulnerable spots on these routes in the district under the common surveillance system for better policing.
