Govt introduces ‘rehashed’ sugar mill surveillance plan

LAHORE: The federal government has reintroduced its plan to monitor sugar mills’ operations, setting a deadline of November 8, 2024, for all mills to install IP-based CCTV cameras on their premises.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which works under the Revenue Division of the government of Pakistan, has asked all sugar mills to install IP-based CCTV cameras on their premises to monitor their operations. A notification dated October 30, 2024 by the Directorate of Information Technology & Digital Transformation, FBR, titled ‘Installation of IP based CCTV Cameras in Sugar Mills Premises’ while giving reference of the October 28 meeting between the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) and the FBR at the FBR Headquarters in Islamabad, asked mills to follow instruction about electronic surveillance of mills’ operation.

During the said meeting, it was decided and agreed that all sugar mills will install the IP-based CCTV cameras solution to monitor the operations/production of sugar mills and provide access of the recording stored in network video recorders (NVRs) to the FBR.

PSMA members proposed four locations for the installation of the said solution according to the notification. These include weigh bridge, chain carrier, drier and hopper/packaging area.The FBR also shared ‘minimum specification’ for IP CCTV cameras solution and allied accessories for enforcement of the order.

All sugar mills are ‘required to complete the installation, commissioning and testing of the aforementioned solution as per specifications in Para3 and as per guidelines provided in Para 4 above and intimate the FBR of the completion of subject activity by November 8, reads the notification in this regard.

It adds “the NVR needs to have the capability to store 60 days’ recording and will also have the ability/provision of exporting the recordings into a readable format by any general video playing application without the use of the specific IP-based CCTV cameras solution software installed at the respective site.

Moreover, the NVR has to be secured in a separate cabinet/room whose keys will be handed over to a FBR-designated focal person. The recordings can be retrieved during 60 days from the mill premises by accessing the NVR by the nominated team.

Sugar mills are required to ensure the smooth running and operations of the CCTV solution and recording of cameras in the NVR. In case of any disruption, the sugar mill needs to immediately inform within 24 hours to respective field formations and take necessary steps to bring the system up and running.

Importantly, similar move of camera installation was put forth by the FBR under a much-hyped track-and-trace system back in 2021. However, according to a seasoned sugar mill owner, proposal could not be implemented due to one reason or the other.

It is pertinent to mention that tax authorities introduced the track and trace system to address one of the significant challenges about monitoring movement of goods to ensure that all taxes due are paid correctly.

To address this challenge, the FBR envisaged to develop a track-and-trace system for tracking and monitoring the production and sales in sugar, tobacco, fertiliser and cement in the first phase with a plan to extend it to further sectors. The system uses modern technologies like barcodes, unique identification number (UIM), and MIS system to track and monitor the production and sales in real time and ensure that they comply with all relevant tax regulations. However, now installation of cameras has been added in the action plan.