The Home Ministry plans to approach the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for approval and large-scale funding to turn Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai into “safe cities” that have round-the-clock aerial and ground surveillance to prevent terrorist attacks.

As a part of this process, Home Minister P. Chidambaram flew to New York during his official visit to the US this week and was briefed in detail by the New York Police Department (NYPD) on steps taken by them to make the city safe.

Chidambaram is expected to revisit his Ministry’s proposal and inject some practical ideas gained during his engagement with the FBI, National Counter-Terrorism Center and police officials in the US.

The Home Ministry has already, as part of its security preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, commissioned IT majors HCL and TCS to come up with proposals to make Delhi “safe.” This involves CCTV and electronic monitoring of movement from the Capital’s borders to putting the 83 major markets in the city under surveillance.

While there are no less than four radar-equipped helicopters in air 24X7 in New York to monitor the city, Delhi may have a number of radio sonde balloons for electronic surveillance.

Government sources said that the “safe cities” proposal will now be fine-tuned and put to CCS as it involves huge funding and large human resource base.