CM Yediyurappa urges Mysuru police to adopt people-friendly approach

Mysuru: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa here on Tuesday inaugurated the new building of Mysuru city police commissioner built at a cost of Rs 19.36 crore, and also 108 houses for policemen built at a cost of 20.31 crore under 'Police Gruha' scheme.

Mr Yediyurappa said, "Mysuru is a historical city and a famous tourism destination which is growing at a pace next only to Bengaluru. Ensuring a peaceful and crime-free society is the primary responsibility of the government and the role of the police department is most important. We expect people-friendly, professional, transparent, and responsible approach from them. To motivate Mysuru police to continue to function more efficiently, we are giving importance to providing basic facilities like good offices and houses to policemen. The buildings which are inaugurated today stand testimony to our commitment," he said.

He lauded the efforts of police in the State in dealing with the Covid pandemic. "Mysuru once saw the highest number of cases, but the situation is under control now. Mysuru city police are doing well in creating awareness and implementing the Covid guidelines of the government. People should be more cautious until the vaccine is available by wearing mask and maintaining social distance," Mr Yediyurappa said.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "new iconic building of Mysuru police commissioner is built considering the backdrop of history, heritage and beauty of the city. Inauguration of such a building is historical moment as it is the most beautiful structure in the entire police department. It is more beautiful than DG office. And the commissioner's cabin is much bigger than that of a minister at Vidhan Soudha. Mysuru police have their own history and we consider Mysuru police as model in terms of efficiency in their functioning. And people at cultural capital of the State are cultured and educated and they cooperate well, which has helped establish peace and development of the city. We wish to replicate the Mysuru police commissionerate model in other parts of the State. Mysuru city police must continue to function with agility. We aim to build 11,000 houses at the rate of 2000 a year by 2025 under "Police Gruha" scheme."

He added, "We have waged war against drug menace. And we will continue it. The amount of drugs we have seized in the past six months is a record. It is equal to what we have seized in the past 10 years. Synthetic drug is another challenge as it is small and can be easily concealed, but we have succeeded in curtailing even that. With the development of technology, cyber crime, bank frauds are also increasing. We have established CEN police stations in all districts to handle Cyber crime, economic offence and narcotics with special attention. We have begun the recruitment of 16,000 personnel in a phased manned in next two years and 120 vacancies in Mysuru will be filled in the next one year. In the past one and half years, we have faced several challenges and we have handled the law and order situation efficiently and established peace. The crime rate has come down," he said.

DGP Praveen Sood said that a good office and a house is the major requirement of a policeman. The Mysuru city police commissionerate was formed in 1989. Band House in which it was housed on Mirza road was small for Police Commissionerate. After 31 years it got an iconic building, he said.

He said that, "only 51 percent of the police personnel have houses in the State. Once the construction of 10,000 more houses under 'Police Gruha' scheme are built by 2025, a total of 71 percent police personnel will have houses," he said and urged the Chief Minister to allocate more funds for the scheme in the coming budgets.

Mysuru city police commissioner Chandraguptha thanked all those who made the new building of Mysuru city police commissioner a reality.

Deputy CM Govinda Karajola, district in-charge minister S T Somashekar, MP Pratap Simha, MLAs S A Ramdas, G T Devegowda, L Nagendra, Tanveer Sait, Harshavardhan, K Mahadeva, MLCs A H Vishwanath, K T Srikantegowda, Mayor Tasleem, ZP chairperson Parimala Shyam, Muda chairperson H V Rajiv and others participated.

Jayaprakash Simon who designed the building was honoured on the occasion. Miniatures of the building were presented to the Chief Minister and Home Minister as mementos on the occasion.