

BENGALURU: To decongest the city, a Bengaluru Mobility Mission will be rolled out in collaboration with various agencies, Home Minister Priyank Kharge told reporters on Wednesday.
Kharge held a meeting with City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh and senior police officers at the commissioner’s office to review law and order, traffic management, cybercrime and other issues.
Kharge said to address Bengaluru’s traffic congestion, the government has decided to focus not only on infrastructure improvements but also on rectifying systemic deficiencies.
For this purpose, a Bengaluru Urban Mobility Mission team will be constituted in collaboration with BMTC, BMRCL and private stakeholders. A comprehensive blueprint for the initiative will be unveiled within the next two to three days, he said.
The minister said instructions have already been issued to establish anti-rowdy squads in every police station. Clear directions have been given that lower-level police officers should not participate in birthday celebrations of rowdy elements and take selfies with them. Any such misconduct will attract stringent disciplinary action.
When questioned about the rising cybercrime cases in the city, the minister said as Bengaluru is the world’s fourth-largest technology cluster, cybercrimes have been increasing.
To effectively tackle cybercriminals, a comprehensive policy will be formulated by integrating the efforts of the Home, IT-BT and e-Governance departments.
A meeting with private technology companies will be held next week to explore the adoption of advanced technologies and safety guardrails.
He further added that to curb drug menace, the Home Department has launched an intensive drive against drug networks. Additional testing kits will be provided at border areas to detect tablets and psychotropic substances entering in small quantities from neighbouring states such as Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.