islamabad - As the multi-million rupees ‘Safe City Project’ unable to recognise human faces and number plates of the vehicles, the government has decided to install new CCTV cameras featuring built-in facial-recognition technology at important entry points of the twin cities.
The decision comes in the wake of fresh wave of terrorism in the country. Sources in the Interior Ministry told The Nation that the ministry has asked district government, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to prepare feasibility report for installation of the facial-recognition cameras at important entry points into the twin cities. The cameras would be able to recognise human face and number plates of the vehicles and round-the clock surveillance of the cities’ roads would be ensured, the sources said. Furthermore, the authorities have decided that special Nakas (pickets) would be established at appropriate distance from such cameras where officials from the law-enforcing agencies and Special Branch of police would be deputed for a swift action in case of presence of suspected elements. The concerned quarters have also evolved a separate security plan for shrines, dargahs, imambargahs, etc in both ICT and Rawalpindi.
The federal government, in June 2016, had launched ‘Islamabad Safe City Project’, costing the national exchequer millions of rupees under which over 1,900 surveillance cameras were installed across the city with a command and control centre set-up in Sector H-11 to monitor important buildings, entry and exit points, roads, commercial centres and a sizable portion of residential area. The project aimed at making the capital “free of crime” have no capacity of recognising human faces and number plates. The cameras were supposed to help identify car-lifters, criminals and keep a check on vehicle theft, robberies and other crimes but it turned out to be the other way.
