Security plan: CCTV blanket to wrap Jalpally soon

Jalpally: The council meeting of Jalpally Municipality last week in the presence of Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy, had an unusual development that conveys a message that people might not be happy with the way authorities have acted tough against encroachments, besides illegal dumping of garbage.

While listing approvals of several measures addressing multiple issues during the meet, the allocation of Rs 50 lakh for setting upCCTV camerasat various strategic locations comes as a surprise. It is aimed to bring the entire area under complete police and municipal surveillance.

According to sources, representations were made to the municipality and the Minister twice by Pahadi Shareef and Balapur police for setting up CCTV cameras, as incidents of crime and garbage dumping in wee hours went up recently.

Frequent reports of encroachments on swats of open government land, water bodies, cutting of lofty rock hills, besides unhygienic conditions due to dumping garbage in open areas, make the municipality a most contentious and argued over area in entire Rangareddy district.

Spread over 30 sq km with a mixed population of around 80,374 (as per 2011 Census), the municipality was formed in 2016 merging Jallapally, Balapur, Kottapet and Pahadi Shareef. Sharing boundaries with Badangpet, Tukkuguda, Chandrayangutta and Rajendranagar, the civic body was divided into 28 densely populated wards with a straining share of representation between the AIMIM and the ruling TRS.

Home to nearly 23,961 families – mostly living below the poverty line, the municipality is undisputedly known for an array of family disputes and domestic violence in almost every ward due to illiteracy, poverty and penury among the dwellers.

This awful state of affairs is said to be harbouring criminal syndicates and ratcheting up crime rate in the area infamous for unprotected water bodies, land disputes and disappearing rock hills, besides illegal dumping of garbage in open places.

It is against this background, the police and the municipal authorities decided to bring the entire civic body under the scanner to check the ever increasing crime rate and the garbage dumping menace. Coincidently the move to install CCTV cameras came soon after M Stephen Raveendra took charge as Cyberabad Commissioner.

The move will help curtailed these issues largely.