K-P to install 13,000 cameras

Instead of purchasing the equipment, officials say they will be renting it

PESHAWAR: The provincial government will need to install around 13,000 closed circuit television cameras across the province over the next three weeks if it hopes to closely monitor proceedings at some the most sensitive polling stations in the upcoming general elections.

The entire exercise may cost the province around Rs150 million.

Sources in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police and the Home and Tribal Affairs Department have disclosed that there are around 12,860 polling booths and stations in the province which will be monitored using closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras as per the directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).



The ECP has already shared a list of the polling stations and the category they fall in.

The tribal areas, which fall in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (FATA) would require 938 cameras to be installed while the remaining 11,922 cameras will be installed in the rest of the province.

“The cameras would be installed in polling booths for surveillance,” said an official of the K-P government close to the matter.

Officials dealing the matter further said that the district administration, or the deputy commissioner of the respective district, would be responsible for arranging the cameras and the K-P government would provide them with the necessary finances to complete the job.

“We have set the cost for a camera at Rs10,000 and each polling booth would be provided with a camera,” said another senior official dealing with the matter.

“There are certain areas where CCTV cameras would not be feasible so there, video cameras would be used for surveillance,” the official said while referring to tribal districts where there is little internet or mobile connectivity or even electricity.

“The estimated cost of the exercise would be around Rs150million including Rs115million for K-P,” the official said, adding that they have requested the K-P finance department for the budget to finance the cameras.

The officials added that some polling stations have been created in buildings where cameras have already been installed by the government, hence only a few areas require the installation of cameras.

“The district administrations had demanded funds for the purchase and installation of cameras, computers, UPS and solar panels and its cost was around Rs320 million but then the government decided to rent the cameras rather than purchasing them since the systems would be required only for a day,” noted another official of K-P government dealing the matter.



Security needs

Regarding the needs of the police force to ensure stringent security arrangements during the elections, senior officials of the K-P police and documents say that the provincial police force requires a strength of 110,000 personnel to guard polling stations.

Since the police force in the entire province only numbers 79,935 personnel, the police department needs an additional 30,000 officers.

“We have requested the Gilgit-Baltistan government, Azad Jammu Kashmir government [to provide police support] and for the provision of frontier constabulary to meet the required strength,” said a senior official of the police department.

As per police department calculations, they will also be relying on around 22,304 officials of the civil defense, forest guards, excise and taxation, Levies, Khassadar, anti-corruption, university security guards, traffic warden, Rescue 1122, lady health workers (as lady constables at female polling stations) and ex-servicemen to shore up their numbers to ensure security.

Enhance vigilance

As the elections near, the interim provincial government has decided to enhance vigilance to maintain security in the province.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retired) Dost Muhammad Khan has directed the administration to be vigilant and keep an eye on the movement of suspicious people, terrorists, and Afghan refugees in their respective areas.

The administration should monitor the entry and exit routes to and from the province, enhance the intelligence sharing amongst different intelligence outfits and redeploy at police stations in sensitive areas.

Moreover, he directed officials to make complete arrangements, including for food and other essentials.

The interim chief minister also directed to cancel the holidays of all psychiatrists of public sector hospitals throughout the province.

He gave these directives as Hazara Division Commissioner Amjad Ali Khan and Regional Police Officer Muhammad Alam Shinwari gave a detailed presentation on the arrangements for elections in the region.

Justice (retired) Dost directed the district administration and police officers to ensure availability of transportation for security personnel deployed in remote areas in the division.

In this regard, the administration and police were allowed to make use of locally available transport for deployment of officers.

Moreover, he directed that the healthcare unit and the health workers should be deployed in every part of the district to provide emergency healthcare, especially in remote areas, during the elections.

Polling stations too should be equipped with first aid and other equipment to deal with emergencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2018.