When 9-year-old S Srihita, a student of Class 3, took part in a meeting organised by Chennai police near her father’s office, she got to know how CCTV cameras help the police under the ‘Third Eye’ project. On learning that CCTV cameras help the police in nabbing criminals, she decided to contribute in some way. She went home with her father and expressed her interest in donating Rs 1.5 lakhs, which her father had kept for her birthday celebrations.
A few days later, Srihita and her father bought 30 CCTV cameras with the money and donated it to the police.
H Krishnamoorthy, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Royapettah, Chennai, told The Hindu,
“I was speaking to Sathyanarayana about CCTV cameras. He may have then spoken about it at home. Srihitha is a fan of former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who is the Lt. Governor of Puducherry. She spoke to me over the phone and later told her dad that she wanted to donate her birthday savings to the police.”
Photo: Facebook/ Chennai City Police
For her contribution and for her solidarity with the police, she was recognised by Chennai police commissioner AK Viswanathan during the inauguration of the CCTV cameras.
The ‘Third Eye’ project is a public-private partnership in Chennai that aims to install CCTV cameras at every 50 metres in the city. Around 10,164 CCTV cameras have been installed in the span of one year at a cost of Rs 69.37 crore. According to the city commissioner, the cameras are not just used for controlling crime but are also used for effective crowd control
“The third eye project has helped us solve crimes quicker. Instead of questioning multiple suspects and leads in connection with a crime, we can narrow down on the culprit with the help of cameras.”
