Karnataka - Bangalore

No time for investigation?

THE "BANGALORE Satyagraha" by the Bharatiya Janata Party, two calls for bandh, and several rallies in the past month have severely affected routine policing in the Central Division of the city.

As most demonstrations are held in the Central division, the policemen are always on security duty.

Providing security to the Vidhana Soudha, the Raj Bhavan, the High Court, ministers' bungalows, government guest-houses, stadiums and star hotels is also the responsibility of the Central Division police.

Rallies

Officials say that as maintaining law and order is important, adequate personnel have to be deployed to ensure that no untoward incident occurs during demonstrations and public functions where thousands of people gather.

As the short-staffed Central Division police are busy making security arrangements most of the time, they have difficulty concentrating on routine policing and crime investigation. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), S. Parashiva Murthy, 200 posts are vacant in his division. "Despite the staff shortage and security duties, we have been able to bring down the number of crimes. The policemen are working overtime without any additional wages," he says.

Dr. Murthy suggests that younger officers, particularly direct recruit sub-inspectors, who can withstand the pressure of work be posted to the division. He says the Commissioner of Police, S. Mariswamy, is planning to create an exclusive force to handle rallies.

A former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) says that the Government should ban demonstrations within a radius of 3 km from the Vidhana Soudha.

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