ISLAMABAD: After serious damages to the Islamabad Safe City Project facilities, including 150 cameras and fibre optic cables, during the May 9 protests, the Interior Ministry is seeking a law to penalise vandals.
A senior official of the ministry told Dawn that there should be a law under which anyone damaging public property can be fined. Parties or groups whose workers cause such a loss would be made to pay for the damages.
The official was speaking about a summary forwarded by the Islamabad police seeking a budget of Rs250 million to make up for the loss to Islamabad Safe City Project.
The protesters damaged wires, poles, stitches, optic fibre and around 150 cameras after PTI chairman Imran Khan was arrested from Islamabad High Court on May 9.
“There are laws to penalise those who damage such infrastructure in most of advanced countries and it is needed for Islamabad too,” the official said.
Over 150 cameras,fibre optic cables of Safe City Project damaged during May 9 protests, official says
Since Islamabad is under the interior ministry, PC-I worth Rs7 billion for enhancing the Safe City Project has been approved to install 2,500 new cameras along with back-end facilities, including cables, monitoring mechanism, and human resource.
Currently, there are around 2,700 active surveillance cameras installed in various parts of the capital covering around 60pc of the urban area of the ICT.
Meanwhile, responding to a query Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir said another 2,500 cameras will be added to the system as CDA and DHA’s cameras were also being integrated in the system.
He added that almost all the key installations, sensitive areas, roads and market places of Islamabad were under 24-hour surveillance and the staff and operators at the police operation centre were monitoring not only the traffic flow but also any crime or suspicious movement.
Apart from the fixed cameras, the Safe City Project is equipped with 20 smart cars and eight drone cameras.
The smart cars category of the project is being enhanced as Rs112.72 million have been allocated for it in the budget 2023-24.
Dr Nasir said the Safe City Project was not only extending support in fighting crime and lawlessness but was also beneficial for other purposes, including traffic management such as issuance of e-challan and taking note of violations on the roads.
