Chandigarh, Aug. 19 -- A surge in thefts targeting critical surveillance infrastructure has begun to erode Chandigarh's much-touted smart city grid, with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) warning the municipal corporation (MC) that at least 25 batteries powering closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera systems have been stolen in the past month alone. Alarmed with the recent thefts, BEL wrote to the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Sector 17, flagging how these incidents are leaving key traffic junctions and surveillance points without power backup. The ICCC forms the backbone of Chandigarh's smart governance system, integrating feeds from hundreds of cameras to monitor traffic flow, enforce rules, and support policing. The system is also linked to automated challan generation, emergency response coordination, and urban monitoring. Chandigarh has nearly 2,000 public and traffic surveillance CCTV cameras installed across about 287 key locations and intersections. The battery thefts have an immediate fallout - cameras go dark, traffic systems fail, and enforcement mechanisms collapse, BEL said. The thefts have taken place in Sectors 28/29, Poultry Farm areas, railway light points, and most recently, a city surveillance site in Sectors 37/41. In the August 17 incident, a UPS unit and three batteries were stolen. According to BEL, CCTV footage has captured the suspect clearly, raising questions about delays in police action. "These are not isolated incidents anymore. The pattern suggests targeted removal of batteries from ICCC field infrastructure," an official familiar with the communication said. "It directly impacts public safety." According to the data shared during the district road safety committee meeting held on Tuesday, 185 CCTV cameras in the city are currently non-functional, whereas the number of non-operative CCTV cameras reported during the last meeting on June 23 were 115. This points to a rise in the number of surveillance units becoming unserviceable in the city. Last year too, the ICCC system had faced operational disruptions. The enforcement through traffic cameras was halted for weeks due to pending payments to BEL, leading to a backlog of nearly 25,000 challans....