Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Every household and street corner in the city is buzzing with the same questions: Has the leopard been spotted? Has it been caught? The fear is so intense that residents are reluctant to go out after 8 pm, and many have stopped their morning walks. Given the widespread fear, questions arise about why the leopard hasn’t been captured on the 750 CCTV cameras of the smart city project. Since Thursday, the smart city team has been reviewing footage, but apart from the Prozone Mall, the leopard hasn’t been seen on any cameras.
Although a leopard has been spotted in the city area, capturing it is primarily the responsibility of the Department of Forest (DoF). The delay in tracing and catching the leopard over the past five days has increased public anxiety. On Thursday, the CSMC’s disaster management cell decided to assist the forest officials. They began reviewing footage from 750 cameras across the city from the Command and Control Centre (CCC) of the Smart City office. Employees have been assigned to this task. The leopard was only seen on a camera near Prozone Mall. Despite spending Rs 200 crore on these cameras for developing hi-tech security, they haven’t been helpful in this case. People are questioning why the smart city cameras haven’t captured the leopard. Meanwhile, project manager Faiz Ali said that footage from areas being searched by the DoF is being reviewed, and the investigation is still ongoing.