Owing to the increase in the number of snatching incidents in the area over the last six months, the governing body of the welfare society of Vikas Nagar has installed one closed circuit television (CCTV) camera on trial basis. The colony has become the first settlement in the city to have CCTV camera surveillance system.

The last snatching incident in the colony was reported on May 30, when snatchers robbed an old woman of her gold bangles in the park. A kidnapping incident was also reported around three months ago in which a boy was kidnapped by car-borne youths.

According to the office-bearers of the welfare society of the colony, as the police had failed to take appropriate action to curtail crime in the area, the residents took it upon themselves to work out a solution.

"We have already installed a CCTV surveillance system in Shree Geeta Mandir Shani Dhaam temple in the colony. So, we thought of using that infrastructure for this purpose as well.

Initially, only one CCTV camera has been installed but more will be put up in the coming weeks," said Pardeep Dhall, a member of the working commitee of the Vikas Nagar Welfare Society.

Further elaborating the plan, Dhall said the CCTV cameras would be hidden so that no one can spot them easily. "All these cameras would be linked to the control room on the temple premises where people would be deputed to keep a watch," Dhall added.

"We have also put up notice boards in the colony clearly mentioning that the entire colony is under CCTV surveillance," he added.

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