For 2019-20, the Ministry of Railways has allocated Rs 19.54 crore for the installation of CCTV surveillance cameras across various railway stations in Tamil Nadu, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal informed Lok Sabha on November 27. As of now, 19 railway stations in the state have installed these cameras. The funds allocated this year are an 1129% increase over 2018-19, when Rs 1.59 crore were allocated. Between 2015-19, a total of Rs 53.12 crore have been allocated to the Southern Railway for CCTV installation in Tamil Nadu railway stations alone. The Railways Ministry plans to cover all Tamil Nadu railway stations by March 2021. [caption id="attachment_208015" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Funds allocated to Southern Railway to install CCTV cameras in stations in Tamil Nadu[/caption] In August, the Madras High Court had directed the Southern Railway to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in railway coaches/compartments for the purpose of providing adequate security to women, children and elderly passengers. Rising number of CCTVs, face recognition and biometric authentication systems The installation of CCTVs, facial recognition systems and biometric authentication systems is becoming pervasive in India, especially at railway stations and airports. Railway stations: Ludhiana railway station is soon going to have Aadhaar-enabled biometric machines to keep a check on the railway staff at the general ticketing counters, and tackle the menace of touts at the ticketing booth. Since August 2019, Mumbai Central and Bandra Terminus railway stations of the Western Railway have had biometric systems for issuing tokens to passengers of longer journeys. The Delhi Metro is also…
