Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20 -- The Odisha government has surrendered Rs.76 crore allocated for police station CCTV surveillance, even as 823 cameras across the state remain non-functional despite Supreme Court directions requiring them to operate at all times, according to a communication from the state police headquarters.

As many as 795 CCTV cameras installed in police stations and another 33 in police outposts were reported to be non-functional as of September 17, additional DGP (law and order) Sanjay Kumar wrote to additional chief secretary (home) Hemant Sharma.

The development comes despite the Supreme Court's directions for the installation and continuous functioning of CCTV cameras at police stations and other offices of investigative...