India, July 20 -- Pune's city-wide CCTV surveillance system is facing a serious breakdown, with over 2,000 of the 3,500 installed cameras currently non-functional, according to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials. The failure stems from years of poor coordination, the absence of technical standards, and an unresolved dispute between the PMC and Pune city police over maintenance responsibilities.

A technical audit has been initiated by the PMC after it emerged that a majority of cameras were either disconnected or damaged. Officials said the situation has been worsened by the use of overhead cabling-which was preferred to avoid the cost of underground trenching-now tangled in a dense network of electric lines, making repairs diffic...