Basirhat district police on Tuesday brought 11 police station areas of the Sundarbans, along the India-Bangladesh border, under the surveillance of 550 closed-circuit television cameras, setting up an integrated control room to step up monitoring in the sensitive region ahead of the festive season.

The initiative aims to enhance vigilance in vulnerable areas of North 24-Parganas, including Hingalganj and Sandeshkhali, in the Sundarbans delta.

DIG Barasat range Bhaskar Mukhopadhyay inaugurated the control room in the presence of Basirhat superintendent of police Hussain Mehedi Rahman, additional superintendent Parth Ghosh and other senior officers.

The objective is to strengthen surveillance over both road and riverine routes during the festive season.

Officials said the facility would operate round-the-clock, monitoring live feeds from 550 cameras installed across sensitive and vulnerable locations within the jurisdiction of 11 police stations.

According to police estimates, the system effectively brings nearly 35 lakh people under electronic surveillance, a move aimed at enhancing security and addressing potential threats during the festivities.

With Durga Puja approaching, officials said the border police stations were especially sensitive.

“To ensure that security is not disturbed, this integrated control room has been opened today (Tuesday),” said a senior officer.

Police authorities added that the system would enable real-time monitoring of nearly 35 lakh residents across the 11 police station areas.

“We will receive live round-the-clock video feeds, which will help us to scan the movement of people on roads and waterways and control crimes as well. We are hopeful of averting criminal activities through such scanning,” said Basirhat SP Rehman, expressing confidence in the new surveillance network.