Delhi govt plans phased replacement of 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras

As part of a security overhaul, the Delhi government will replace 1.4 lakh Chinese-made CCTV cameras installed across Delhi, PWD minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said on Wednesday.

Currently, the Public Works Department (PWD) has installed approximately 2.8 lakh cameras across the city, out of which 1,40,000 CCTV cameras fitted in phase 1 were from a Chinese firm.

“We have decided to phase out a significant portion of the CCTV cameras installed across the city, particularly those sourced from Chinese firm Hikvision, in line with recent government directives and broader security considerations,” the minister said.

PWD will gradually replace cameras with updated systems that meet current technical standards, offer better data security and are supported by a robust supply and service ecosystem, Singh added.

Delhi currently has 2,74,389 CCTV cameras installed by the PWD in two phases. In the first phase, between September 2020 and November 2022, a total of 1,40,000 cameras were installed, while the remaining 1,34,389 cameras were installed between June 2025 and March 2026.

The PWD minister also accused the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of failing to think about the security implications of installing Chinese-made cameras.

“The AAP installed Chinese Hikvision cameras across Delhi without thinking about its long-term security implications. When you deploy such systems across an entire city, you are making a national security choice. Unfortunately, the AAP failed to recognise that,” Singh alleged.

“The government has already approved the replacement of 50,000 Chinese cameras in the first phase. This is a clear course correction. Every Chinese camera installed earlier will be systematically replaced with secure and trusted systems,” he added.

In response, AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that the minister’s allegation was a pretext to award new contracts to a favoured company.

“Hikvision cameras are already deployed across multiple Central government projects, including metro systems that are critical to public safety. If there are genuine national security concerns, why has the BJP government not imposed a comprehensive ban on their use across India?” Bharadwaj asked.

He said this “selective alarm” raises serious questions.

“It appears less about security and more about creating a convenient pretext to phase out existing systems and award fresh contracts to their favoured company,” he alleged.