India, April 2 -- Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh on Wednesday ordered the phased removal of Chinese-origin CCTV cameras installed in the national capital. This comes after the Centre banned them, citing security concerns. Delhi currently has 2,74,389 CCTV cameras installed by the PWD.

Initiating the removal process, the Delhi minister also said the cameras were installed during the tenure of the AAP and said it raised serious questions on the intent and judgement behind such decisions. Officials said the replacement will be carried out in phases to ensure no disruption in surveillance coverage while upgrading the system to meet stricter security standards.

"We have taken a decision to phase out a significant portion of the CCTV ...