Maneka Gandhi rejects Delhi govt's project to install CCTVs in DTC buses, calls it a 'waste of public money'

New Delhi: Union minister Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday said that installing CCTVs in buses is a waste of public money since women face inappropriate touching on public transport, which the recorded footage will fail to point out.

File image of Maneka Gandhi. AFP

"Molestation on buses is about (inappropriate) touching. It will not be picked up by the CCTVs since buses are so crowded. It is just a waste of money," the Minister for Women and Child Development told the media.

"The CCTVs are fixed and not rotating. No one is going to stand in front of the camera (to molest women). I agree that women are constantly molested in crowded buses, but CCTVs cannot do anything to prevent these molestations," she said.

Pointing out that the money spent on installing closed circuit televisions (CCTVs) belonged to the nation, the minister said it should be "spent where it will have the most effect".

The ministry put up CCTVs in some buses in Rajasthan but these did not work, she said.

The ministry had rejected a Delhi government project to install CCTVs in Delhi Transport Corporation buses from the Nirbhaya fund.