Police, trade resolve to make City crime free

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, NOV. 23. ``Come to my office, I shall give you application forms for gun licences.'' This was how the City Police Commissioner, Mr. H.T.Sangliana, invited the trade sector in Bangalore to begin a business-police collaboration to make Bangalore a relatively crime-free city.

Addressing members of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here today, Mr. Sangliana first listened patiently to the long wishlist of the trade body, articulated by the FKCCI's past president, Mr. K.Lakshman.

Mr. Lakshman wanted, among other things, the promenade on M.G.Road to be converted into a parking lot with a nice park, since ``it was not being used by anyone for walking, anyway,'' and sentiment should not cloud utility to make a holy cow of the ``disused promenade.''

He covered the entire gamut of minor and major traffic glitches that Bangaloreans have learned to live with, and urged the Police Department not to succumb to ``political pressure'' in clamping down on those who put up temples or churches on footpaths, and at other public places.

The flyovers, particularly the one at the Sirsi Circle, was under utilised, and the one-way system was only making matters worse, Mr. Lakshman said, before touching fleetingly on crime-control measures that would make Bangalore a truly investor-friendly city, and iron out the creases that make a businessman's life in the city hassle-free and harassment-free.

Mr. Sangliana began by asking the representatives of City's business community to ``introspect, and tell me how efficient and effective is your own security measures. Do your alarm systems work? Do you have security devices at all?''

He went on to ask those who owned guns, or gun-licences to raise their hands. Three hands went up, and Mr. Sangliana went on to say that the police would be more effective if the basic safety systems were in place, and applying for gun licences was a good way to begin a new relationship.

Not a single hand went up when the Police Commissioner asked if anyone had been victimised by extortionists and the ``mafia.'' Mr. Sangliana then flung the ball into the business community's court by saying ``let us get together to send the message loud and clear that there is no room in Bangalore for extortionists.''

Urging the FKCCI to freely give the feedback on the clandestine, overt and covert attempts by organised extortionist gangs to victimise the community, Mr. Sangliana called for a joint resolution to do everything to warn the extortionists that ``we mean business.'' The resolution was passed by a mumbled, barely audible voice vote.

The Police Commissioner then aired his own ``grievances,'' the problems that made the policeman's job tough. For example, there was shortage of manpower, just one constable to a thousand citizens. Even the police, therefore, could do little unless the citizens organised themselves and co-operated with the law- enforcing agencies, he said.

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