With the Big Brother on a sleep mode in Margao and Fatorda for want of Closed Circuit Surveillance TV cameras in the commercial capital, Goa police personnel were seen literally hopping from one house to another with the hope of laying hands on the private CCTV footage.
After the Omni van used to commit the Usgao ATM theft was found abandoned at the starting point of the Comba ring road, close to the main Colva road, the men-in-uniform were once again on the job, to lay their hands on CCTV footage of private business establishments and households.
No doubt, the police managed to obtain the crucial CCTV footage, showing that the van was crossing the Old Market road at around 6.27 am on Thursday, but the men-in-uniform were on the job to find out the movements of the occupants of the stolen van and the directions they have escaped after abandoning the vehicle.
Besides the entire Old Market area, police personnel were found knocking the doors of residents in and around the Comba subway, indicating that the police were on the job to track down the movements of the miscreants.
A senior police officer in private maintained that the police would not have to hop from one business establishment to another and from one house to another had the Margao Municipality or the district authorities revived the CCTV surveillance project in the commercial capital.
“The stolen van has been abandoned on a road which has no illumination. Secondly, the road is an isolated one without any residential houses along the stretch. The nearest house from the spot where the van was abandoned on the ring road is near the Comba subway,” the officer said.
He added: “Our task would have been much easier if the city was covered under the CCTV surveillance cameras. This is the reason why the police had been repeatedly insisting on the revival of the CCTV project in Margao and Fatorda not just to reign down on traffic violators, but to detect crimes.”
