Bangalore: In view of the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai, elaborate security arrangements will be made in the State, particularly in Bangalore, for the Independence Day celebrations.

Minister for Home and Law M.P. Prakash told presspersons here on Monday that a good number of policemen would be posted at important places, including the Vidhana Soudha, the Vikasa Soudha, Raj Bhavan and the Karnataka High Court. The security arrangements would be monitored by the top brass of the State and Bangalore police.

A high-level meeting was also held here on the security arrangements in Bangalore, and it was chaired by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Top officials of the Home Department and the police force participated in the deliberations. The Government is also in receipt of reports from Central intelligence agencies and the Union Home Ministry on the steps that needed to be taken to provide security to vital installations.

Meanwhile, the Finance Department has cleared several pending proposals of the Police Department, which included recruiting additional personnel for various duties. Adequate funds had also been earmarked for providing the police with new firearms and increasing the number of motor vehicles for the force. The Government had also approved the appointment of 650 police personnel to provide security for the Vidhana Soudha and other adjoining VIP buildings, including the Raj Bhavan.

Mr. Prakash said the Government had approved the recruitment of 1,211 drivers and mechanics for the Police Department. The proposal was recently cleared by the Finance Department and the recruitment would commence shortly. Along with this, the department had also sought permission for recruiting over 2,000 traffic police constables. Of this, the recruitment of 992 had been cleared and the approval for the rest was expected shortly. Clearance had also been given for opening six new traffic police stations for Bangalore and for acquiring 75 police patrol vehicles. The mobile police would work in three shifts and the appointment of 2,192 police personnel under this scheme had been cleared.

As part of the Independence Day celebrations, 309 convicts including a number of them serving life sentence, would be released on the basis of what had been termed their good conduct. Those expected to be released include six women prisoners who had been imprisoned for various offences. Normally, men prisoners who had been in jail for 10 years and women in jail for eight years were eligible for remission of their sentence, but this had now been reduced to eight years for men and six years for women. The matter relating to remission would be placed before the Cabinet, and thereafter sent across to Governor T.N. Chaturvedi for his approval.

Mr. Prakash, who is also president of the State Janata Dal (Secular), said the party had not finalised the candidate for the byelection to the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency. The vacancy had arisen following the resignation of the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has since joined the Congress and is expected to contest the byelection on that party's ticket.

He said the senior leaders of the party would decide on the candidate only after the Election Commission notified the bypolls.

The JD (S) had also not held discussions with the Bharatiya Janata Party on whether the two parties could jointly field a candidate.

There were many candidates in the JD (S), including the Minister for Housing D.T. Jayakumar, who have expressed their willingness to contest against Mr. Siddaramaiah in the byelections.

Mr. Prakash exuded confidence that the Government would complete its full term.

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