CCTV cameras installed at public places act as crime deterrents

No grave crime in the last one and a half years. No drinking in public. Water supply regulated with mobile phones. Here is tech-savvy Zameen Devarkulam, a second grade village panchayat attached to Kuruvikulam panchayat union in Kovilpatti taluk, which has leapt forward on the wings of technology.

With modernisation sweeping it, the village has shot to fame to foster positive social transformation. In the past, the village was notorious for its high crime rate. With closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at seven locations and loud hailers at 15 places on various streets, the village is a model..

While CCTV acts as a crime deterrent, loud hailers are used to take forward government’s welfare schemes to people, along with other important announcements, Kamala Balakrishnan, panchayat president, told The Hindu on Monday.

Many alcoholics had given up the habit of consuming liquor in open places, after the installation of the CCTV cameras. Every activity of the people is monitored in a control room attached to the panchayat office.

Credit for modernising the village goes to donors, who included local residents and the young generation employed in high-paying jobs. Ms. Balakrishnan, the first president of the panchayat without any political affiliation, said, adding water supply was regulated using mobile phones. The phones are used as remote devices to activate pumping station located three km away from residential areas. A Coimbatore-based technocrat designed the technology for the mobile phone.

Out of 64 street lights, 40 are powered by inverters. S. Mari Kannan, panchayat clerk, said stolen jewellery was recovered recently using video footage from the CCTV. The criminal was identified in the footage, and an announcement over the public address system prompted him to leave the property from where it was stolen.

S. Karuppasamy of Middle Street said the village needed an ambulance van to meet any emergency. Cutting across caste and religious affiliations, the village extended support to the president to usher in an honest and transparent administration, T. Muthupandi of Velar Street said.

Kovilpatti Assistant Superintendent of Police Murali Rambha said no grave crime had been reported with Nalattinputhur police station, which covers Zamen Devarkulam, in the last one and a half years.