BENGALURU: Home Minister Basavraj Bommai has hit the road running. While some ministers are still complaining of not being given a ministry of their choice, Bommai has, in a ‘blitzkreig’ set of meetings, told the police top brass to ensure ‘zero tolerance’ to slow traffic and to reign in anti-social elements and effectively manage cybercrime.
Over the next few days, several steps to monitor cybercrime and make policing more effective in the IT hub of India are expected to be announced. Speaking to The New Indian Express, Bommai outlined his plan. “The desperate need of the hour is to update our policing which is caught in a time warp. Our policing will be the best, on par with other forces around the world.” Bommai assured that he would look into the cybercrime detection and fighting systems using ‘next-gen,’ cyber crime-fighting measures.
A Bengalurean himself, Bommai said he understood the horrors of snail-paced traffic and said that a process to adopt technology to ease congestion had been initiated in Bengaluru as well as other cities.
As many as 10 slow traffic zones have been identified in Bengaluru and many more across the state and a virtual overhaul of these corridors have been sought instead of mere cosmetic changes. Scientific signalling, synchronized traffic and other measures, intelligently picked up from effective traffic management across the world, would be implemented, he said.
On Wednesday, he issued clear directives to the police to increase the average commute speeds in Bengaluru. He also said that rumbler strips would replace unscientific road humps causing accidents. Vehicle parking management and obstruction removal would be other measures that would kick in shortly, he said. He also affirmed his commitment to the regulation of heavy transport traffic movement.
“Rowdy and anti-social elements would be dealt with firmly and police will clamp down on gambling and other centres of illegal activities because many of these are breeding grounds for crime,’’ he said. On the IMA scam and phone tapping issues, he said, “They are being looked into by the CBI.’’
‘State to set up squad to check misuse of relief funds’
Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Wednesday announced that a state-wide squad will be set up to check the misuse of funds and resources dedicated to flood relief. He was speaking after a meeting with senior officials on flood-relief measures. “We will form a squad which will randomly visit places to contain the menace of middlemen,” he said. The squad will check if funds have reached beneficiaries if bribes are being demanded and other corrupt practices.