Gandhinagar, March 30
The Gujarat assembly on Wednesday passed the Gujarat Public Safety Measures Enforcement Bill, 2022 unanimously. The enforcement bill seeks to enhance the safety measures in commercial, industrial, religious, educational, healthcare establishments through mandatory installation of CCTV camera systems. These and other safety measures will be monitored by public safety committees which will also take punitive action against the violators.
The Minister of State (MoS) Home, Harsh Sanghvi proposed this bill in the House on Wednesday. He said, "This bill is for the enhancement of public safety and security. I assure the House that other than safety and security of the public, we don't have any other intentions behind it and I request all the members to unanimously support me."
The objective behind bringing in this bill states that 'With rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and expansion of business activities, commercial and industrial establishments, religious places, educational institutions, hospitals, sports complex, railway stations, bus stations, hotels, places of organised congregations which attract a large number of people and so are vulnerable to crime and securities threat.'
'There is an urgent need for strengthening the safety measures in such establishments to enhance safety of the general public. The Gujarat Public Safety Measures Enforcement Bill 2022 makes it mandatory for the installation of CCTV camera systems and Access Control measures for certain category of establishments.'
Under the provisions of the proposed law, it will be mandatory for these institutions and places of organised congregations attracting a large gathering of people, to install CCTV camera systems. This bill also seeks to standardise these safety measures and provide video footage to the law enforcement agencies for the purpose of prevention, detection and investigation of criminal cases.
The bill has a provision through which public safety committees and sub committees will be set up to inspect the premises of any establishment by an authorised official. These committees will have the powers to penalise the erring institutions, where a fine of Rs 10,000 will be imposed for the violations of the provisions in the first month and Rs 25,000 for subsequent months. The penalties will be levied on the owner or the manager of the institutions.
It shall be obligatory for all the establishments to employ public safety measures within 6 months of the bill coming into to effect. The provisions also make it mandatory for the establishments to keep CCTV footage record data for a month with them.
"Despite all the police stations in the state equipped with CCTVs, why is Gujarat number one in the nation as far as custodial deaths are concerned? I would be happy, if more than 18,000 theft cases would have been solved through the CCTV footage. Liquor worth crores of rupees in the state from neighbouring states is coming in, I would have been glad if all the check posts connecting the neighbouring states were monitored strictly by CCTV. There is no need for a new law to be brought in the state, but better implementation is the requirement," Paresh Dhanani, the former Leader of the Opposition Party (LOP), told the House.
