NT NETWORK
PANAJI
In a bid to safeguard the state Secretariat premises at Porvorim, which includes the administration and ministerial blocks, from any kind of suspicious activity and to keep a record of the movement of visitors as well as its staff, the state administration of Goa government has moved a proposal to cover the highest administrative institution under closed circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance.
The general administration department (GAD) has asked the public works department (PWD) to revise the estimate, which was actually prepared three years back, for installation of the CCTV cameras and other related equipment. The installation of the CCTV cameras aims to fulfil the security requirement.
Sources in the Secretariat said that the proposal for installation of CCTV cameras in the Secretariat premises has been moved and GAD, the department which looks after the government buildings, is working on it. In fact,
three years back, the
government had moved a proposal to provide CCTV surveillance system for Goa Legislative Assembly as well as Secretariat and Ministerial blocks. But the proposal was dropped due to huge cost estimate for the entire system which amounted to Rs 6 crore, with the state government facing a financial constraint.
“In the earlier proposal, it was decided to cover the administrative and ministerial block of Secretariat building as well as legislative assembly complex. But in the new proposal, we are focussing on administrative and ministerial blocks to provide CCTV surveillance cover and have asked PWD to revise the estimate for the project,” a senior official said.
The administrative block of the state Secretariat has offices of all the secretaries to the various departments of the government and their subordinate officers like under secretary, joint secretary, additional secretary and sections of all the departments, whereas offices of the Chief Minister and council of ministers are in the ministerial block.
It may be recalled that the Goa state assembly complex and Secretariat building was inaugurated at the hands of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in March 2000. But since the last 16 years, the Secretariat premises could not be brought under CCTV surveillance system.
According to an official, since the number of threats is increasing everywhere, every government is giving priority to security of the state and the proposal for installation of CCTV cameras in the Secretariat is a part of that.
Another senior official said that he was surprised not to see CCTV surveillance system in such a premier state administration premises. “However, the new move will not only keep a watch on the suspicious things, but the system will help record movement of the staff and officials too,” he said.