Lightning Action by Cops after 26 Complaints made during Top Cop’s PHONE-IN Programme held on Saturday, 3 June 2023 between 10 and 11 am
Mangaluru: After a gap of nearly three and a half years, during which the Phone-In programme was initiated by the then Police Commissioner Chandrashekar, which was successful in solving civic and traffic-related issues, the present police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R Jain once again resumed the PHONE-IN Programme on Saturday, 3 June where he attended to 26 grievances during one hour (10 am-11 am). It should be noted that M. Chandrasekhar, the then Police Commissioner, introduced the phone-in programme in 2016. It was received well by the public who aired their grievances on the first Friday of every month. The initiative celebrated the 100th episode in January 2019 when T.R. Suresh was the Commissioner. It came to an abrupt halt in December 2019 after the police firing during the CAA protest, when P.S. Harsha was the Commissioner.
Two callers spoke about the inconvenience to the general public being caused by the Clock Tower circular one-way, to which Kuldeep Jain said he would get the issue studied. The callers brought to the notice of the police commissioner and his team of officers including DCP (law and order) Anshu Kumar and DCP (crime and traffic) BP Dinesh Kumar and ACPs, including Mrs Geetha Kulakarni, various issues about traffic, encroachments of the footpath, parking woes, illegal activities and so on.
Surprisingly within a few hours, the city police got into action and looked into a few of the issues complained about by the public during the phone-in programme. DCP Anshu Kumar said, “Based on a complaint received in today’s phone-in programme, two cases were registered in Mulki police station for gambling (matka). Also, the Panambur inspector and his team visited a bar and surrounding places and did not find anything related to gambling. CCTV footage was checked.” “Based on a complaint received, accusing a person of selling illegal liquor in Moodbidri police station limits, the team visited the person’s house, searched and found nothing illegal. A constable has been asked to keep a watch on the person in future also,” he said.
Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R Jain said, “There is no permanent solution to many of the traffic issues due to infrastructure bottlenecks, and added that they can streamline and manage it on a day-to-day basis. There is a huge gap in demand and supply that is leading to traffic violations. The commercial complexes encroach upon the basement parking, forcing motorists to park on the roads. We are communicating to all concerned departments to be careful in future planning, to prevent the commercial complexes from encroaching upon the basement parking”.
The other complaints received include buses not following road discipline, haphazard parking of vehicles in the Central Market area and so on. In response, the police Commissioner said that traffic police will be deployed from 7 am to manage the traffic in major junctions. The callers also urged the commissioner to create awareness of cybercrimes and take action against triple riding and riding without a helmet. A caller brought the commissioner’s attention to the parking of seized vehicles by Ullal police on the road, to which the commissioner said that the police are searching for a space to shift the vehicles. When a caller urged to display auto-rickshaw fares in public places, the commissioner promised to bring it to the notice of the RTO and do the needful. Jain said that the traffic congestion has improved to some extent at Nanthoor junction after the size of the roundabout was reduced, which led to the fast movement of vehicles.
On the requests to remove the circular one-way traffic on the Clock Tower- AB Shetty Circle, the commissioner said, “Right now there is no major problem in the area.” However, he said he will discuss on what basis it was done. “We will take a relook at the circular one-way introduced about a year ago following many complaints from the public. Re-examining the circular one-way was not his priority; there were other pressing issues, including decongesting the Central Market area where the new market building was coming up, ensuring pedestrian safety across the city, etc. All aspects leading to the formation of one-way have to be studied while the present traffic pattern’s impact has to be studied too. Overall, the public has adjusted to the new set-up, though they complain about circuitous detours to their destination”. “Meanwhile, parking issues raised at the meeting will be addressed at several places,” said DCP Dinesh Kumar.
PHONE -IN PROGRAMME WILL BE HELD ON EVERY FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH (THE NEXT ONE WILL BE ON 1 JULY 2023) BETWEEN 10 AM AND 11 AM. CALL WITH YOUR COMPLAINTS TO 0824-2220801 AND 0824-2220830
ALSO READ RELATED ARTICLE:
Parking is an issue not just in Managaluru but throughout India. Having said that every city/town/village (yes village too) should have a long term plan. It is not something a police commissioner alone can do. This has to be addressed by city elders — both the ruling party and the opposition everywhere should work in unison because this affects all people — especially due to the rising economy and people buying more vehicles.
Citizens also have a responsibility: Some highrise parking garages should be built in congested places by authorities and private people. This will require significant investment. So people should be prepared to pay a decent amount. If people start complaining about parking fees or skip the parking fee and park in the same manner, the situation won’t improve. It will become worse. One other thing long-term planning should consider is improving the public transport system. Out-of-the-box solutions should be thought about – just an example: study if multi-layered bus-stand can decongest; elevated walkways; some bus routes skipping the central city bus stand route totally where it is feasible.