Delhi Police’s Rs 15.7 crore facial recognition CCTV tender flags surveillance concerns

A Rs 15.7-crore Delhi Police tender to acquire 338 CCTV cameras with facial recognition technology (FRT) across New Delhi and Central districts has drawn public scrutiny. While police officials maintain the procurement is part of a two-year-old modernisation drive unrelated to recent demonstrations, digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has raised flags regarding surveillance safeguards, technical discrepancies, and procurement flaws.

The bid was uploaded to the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) five days after protests at Jantar Mantar concerning the NEET paper leak concluded. Months later, on October 11, Delhi Police de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest zone, redirecting future demonstrations to alternative locations such as Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground, and CBD Ground in Shahdara.

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In its analysis, the IFF noted, “We found no evidence that the two decisions were coordinated. We can say that the ground the police have chosen for protests is ground they had already chosen to watch with facial recognition.”

Dismissing links to recent events, a police source explained that the proposal was initiated two years ago under a broader modernisation plan being implemented across multiple states. Following ministry approval, a detailed project report (DPR) was drawn up, leading to the tender launch. The bidding process is currently underway, and the work order has been issued.

A senior police official clarified that CCTV cameras along VVIP routes were previously rented. Under the ASUMP modernisation scheme, a proposal to install permanent units was considered in March 2025 and approved in September 2025.

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Earlier on May 22, an e-bid was invited for 194 cameras—requiring facial recognition capabilities in 10% of the fixed and pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) units—for VVIP routes in the North district. The second tender for 338 cameras across New Delhi and Central districts followed on July 30. Both processes remain active, with ground installation slated to begin around December 2026 or January 2027. The officer added that vehicle-mounted jammers managed by the security unit will continue to be deployed during VVIP movement.

According to the IFF report, the Rs 15.7-crore five-year contract encompasses 248 fixed cameras, 43 PTZ cameras, and 47 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, along with video management software, storage hardware, and peripheral infrastructure. Designated locations include key traffic and public zones such as Ramlila Maidan's VVIP gate, Turkman Gate, Delhi Gate, Rajghat, C-Hexagon at India Gate, Mandi House, and the Patiala House court complex.

The report highlighted major governance gaps, citing the lack of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for facial recognition, no privacy impact assessments, missing details on target databases, and an absence of accuracy thresholds or safeguards against false matches. Furthermore, while the tender mandates 30 days of video storage, it leaves data retention rules undefined for facial templates, match logs, and ANPR records.

The IFF also identified 28 procedural defects in the tender documents, including mismatched camera quantities for PTZ and ANPR units, specifications copied from older tenders, references to outdated independent monitors, and inaccurate spatial coordinates that placed one camera location approximately 40 kilometres east of Delhi.

(With inputs from TOI)