50% of Smart City cameras non-functional: Police report
According to the report, nearly all cameras are currently offline, severely limiting the city's real-time monitoring capabilities.
Sources close to the police indicate that only a handful of the integrated cameras, meant to oversee traffic flow, public spaces and environmental violations are operational. Civic activists and citizens have expressed concerns about the lack of monitoring, particularly regarding traffic rule violations, illegal dumping of garbage and unauthorised parking.
The police commissioner has also written to Smart City CEO detailing the issue.
A senior police officer has confirmed the issue. "At present, more than 50% of the cameras under Smart City infrastructure are out of service. This hampers our ability to respond quickly to violations and emergencies across the city. These AI-powered systems were designed to detect offences such as red-light jumping, illegal parking and roadside waste dumping, many of which go unchecked due to the non-functional cameras," he said.
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Meanwhile, a senior Smart City official told TOI that the police report was incorrect and the majority of the cameras were functional. "The city police certified in 2024 that all the cameras were functional. Now, the police team has changed and the new team is levelling allegations. We will counter it with the details we have," the official said.
The official added that the city police commissioner sent a letter to Smart City CEO in Sept 2024 stating that after a technical inspection, all cameras were found working.
"Now, when they checked four cameras, two were found defunct and they concluded that 50% of the cameras in the city are damaged. It is completely wrong," the official said.
The company responsible for the maintenance, which has a five-year annual maintenance contract, said that they were rectifying the issues based on the defects reported by the police. "It is not true that most of the cameras were damaged. In total there are over 1,000 cameras in the city and 98% of them are functional.
If any defects are reported, we will rectify them as soon as possible," a company official said.
Under the city's smart surveillance initiative, high-definition cameras feed back to the integrated command and control centre (ICCC) and traffic and safety command centre (TSCCC), where real-time AI analysis triggers alerts and sends automatic penalty notices. However, with many cameras offline, the automation is largely suspended.
"Now we are physically monitoring major junctions and hotspots. But on-ground enforcement cannot substitute for automated coverage, especially when human resources are limited," a senior officer said.
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