VTU orders CCTV surveillance in all engineering colleges

To curtail the unwanted activities such as consuming drugs, ragging, sexual harassment and others, the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has ordered all engineering colleges to install CCTV at prominent places of the campus.

The VTU has taken this step in the wake of the order of the Principal Secretary of Higher Education Department and has instructed the authorities to regularly monitor the activities of the students.

The VTU also instructed to conduct a special seminar for students against anti-social activities and its repercussions.

“A counsellor must be appointed to counsel the students. Display boards must be installed in all the prominent places of the institute stating that, consuming drugs, alcohol, tobacco, involving in ragging and sexual harassment and other anti-social activities is strictly prohibited,” reads the order.

“In the case of finding such activities, colleges must take stringent action and a report must be submitted to the office of the undersigned,” it said .

.B.E.Rangaswamy, Registrar (Administration) of VTU said, “This order has been issued on the basis of a letter from the Chief Secretary of the government. CCTVs have already been installed in all engineering colleges, including government and private colleges. However, as per the government’s instructions, we have ordered the installation of CCTVs in prominent places on the campus. In addition, there was no system to monitor CCTVs till now. Therefore, from now on, a separate team has been formed in all colleges and footage of CCTVs have been monitored regularly. If any student is involved in unwanted activities activities in the college campus, appropriate action will be taken against them.”

“Already, CCTVs have been installed in some places, including the administration block in our college. The order issued by the government will be followed for the safety of students. We have decided to install CCTVs at other places including the main gate of the college,” said the principal of a government engineering college.

But students have not taken kindly to the development.

“CCTV installation in prominent places of the campus is right from the perspective of transparency and safety. But monitoring every movement of students is unethical. Legal action should be taken against those who engage in immoral activities. However, it should not violate the privacy of students. So, the college managements should discuss with the students before installing CCTVs on the college campus,” said Tejas, student of a private engineering college from Bengaluru.

Published - June 01, 2025 07:54 pm IST