Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said that his department was preparing comprehensive traffic management plans for all city corporations in the State, funds for which were likely to be allocated in the 2021-22 State Budget.
Speaking after inaugurating the quarters for police personnel at Panambur here, he said that detailed project reports would be completed before the Budget so as to get funds for managing the increasing traffic in city corporation limits. He said that Mangaluru was one of the important fast-growing cities of the State and also one located strategically, and it thus required special attention from the government.
Mr. Bommai, who inaugurated a state-of-the-art forensic science laboratory for the department in Bengaluru recently, said similar labs should be set up across the State. “The government has plans to open such labs in all five police ranges, as well as in police commissionerates, in the coming days for speeding up investigation,” he said.
Lauding the State Police Housing Corporation for building the required accommodation for police personnel across the State, Mr. Bommai said that the government intended to enhance housing facility to cover at least 75 % of the personnel, from the present 51 %. With the government targeting completion of 11,000 more houses for the personnel by 2025, 60 % of the personnel will come to have quarters, the Minister said.
For Mangaluru, the department has sanctioned 74 new units for the 2025 project. The Minister said that this would be enhanced to 100. Already, 192 units have been built. If local officials identify more land, more units will be sanctioned, given the strategic importance of the region, Mr. Bommai said.
Speaking about the recent messages written on walls in the city, Mr. Bommai said that they were intended to create unrest, similar to ones witnessed in troubled areas, including Jammu and Kashmir.
He expressed the confidence that the police would soon bring the perpetrators to book. The Police Department would soon arrest the accused. Mangaluru, with its mega industries, strategic location and the border with Kerala, requires special attention and the government was committed to providing it.
District in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojari, Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty, Udupi MLA K. Raghupathi Bhat, Police Commissioner Vikash Kumar Vikash and others were present.