Hyderabad: Despite repeated claims by the city police over the years about deploying artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled CCTV cameras, no such cameras are currently in use, according to a response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by social activist SQ Masood.The same petitioner also moved the Telangana high court in 2022 over the alleged misuse of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) by the city police. The reply also states that none of the govt cameras is equipped with FRT either. The RTI data covers only cameras installed by the govt and excludes those set up through community-driven initiatives such as Nenu Saitham.“The intention behind seeking the information was to map the city’s CCTV network. But I received the reply only after one-and-a-half years,” Masood told TOI.“I remember police mentioning during the Covid-19 pandemic that AI-enabled cameras were being used for surveillance. But this response shows that there are no AI cameras in the city,” he said.Masood pointed out that the police, however, are using FRT through applications such as TSCOP on tablets, which continues to raise serious privacy concerns.According to the response, 5,548 govt-installed cameras are deployed across the limits of 71 police stations, with stark variations in their distribution. Narayanaguda police station has the highest number, with 180 cameras, followed by Saidabad with 170, Chikkadpally with 159, Sultanbazar with 157 and Chaderghat with 149.At the other end, Gudimalkapur has no govt-installed cameras, while Bandlaguda has 13, Kalapattar 16, Kamatipura 17 and Filmnagar 22.Questioning the uneven distribution of cameras, Masood said there appeared to be little correlation between surveillance coverage and the nature or crime profile of an area.“There are wide disparities and there seems to be no clear logic behind the deployment. Generally, areas with higher crime rates are expected to have more cameras, but the data does not appear to reflect that,” he said.“It is surprising that Gudimalkapur, which has a busy market, has zero cameras. Similarly, Jubilee Hills has only 38 cameras, while Banjara Hills has nearly three times as many,” he added.The RTI response contrasts with earlier claims by police officials. In 2020, then Telangana DGP M Mahender Reddy had announced an AI-based surveillance system embedded through CCTV cameras across the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda commissionerates to detect mask violations during the pandemic. Reports in 2021 had also claimed that around 2,000 CCTV cameras in the city were AI-enabled.
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