The government has allocated around Tk72 crore to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at polling centres ahead of the upcoming national election and referendum, Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said on Tuesday.
Briefing reporters at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital, Azad Majumder said Bangladesh has around 42,000 polling centres, of which 6,552 already have CCTV coverage.
He said a special allocation of Tk71.98 crore has been made to install CCTV cameras at 21,946 “important and risk-prone” polling centres. Each of these centres will have at least six CCTV cameras, funded through the special allocation.
CCTV cameras at the remaining centres will be installed by local administrations using their own funds, he added.
Azad Majumder said the installation process is already underway across the country and has reached near completion in several districts. In Gazipur, for example, 447 out of 935 polling centres have been identified as risk-prone, and most of them have already been brought under CCTV coverage through the special allocation.
He said initiatives have also been taken by the Gazipur City Corporation and district administration to install cameras at the remaining centres, expressing hope that all centres in the district would be covered by January 31.
The deputy press secretary added that similar programs are ongoing in other districts and city corporation areas. Senior government officials have been inspecting the progress of CCTV installation, including the Local Government Ministry secretary, who visited Kishoreganj recently and was briefed on the rapid progress of the initiative.
“We hope that all polling centres can be brought under CCTV coverage by January 31, ahead of the election,” Azad Majumder said.
