In August, Varsha Bansal reported how India’s tech hub, Hyderabad, has become the nation’s surveillance city. Now the authorities are doubling down on their reliance on camera systems.

This week, state authorities in Telangana announced a ramping up of surveillance across Hyderabad. On Monday, in a meeting with government and police officials, K. T. Rama Rao, the minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development, tasked the police department with doubling the city’s surveillance cameras to about a million.

The authorities say the cameras should cover most of the city, including malls, parks, government hospitals and other public places in an effort to cut crime.

Rights activists are concerned about the impact on privacy. “The police and the administration blindly believe technology is the answer to reducing and almost stopping crime in the city,” Srinivas Kodali, an independent researcher working on data and governance, told me over email. “With facial recognition cameras, they are hoping to track everyone 24/7.”