Mangaluru: After his address on Youth Day and inauguration of “Arpana” at Ramakrishna Matt on January 12, Karnataka Home Minister Dr. G Parameshwara shifted base to the Police Commissioner’s office to flag off news patrolling vehicles for the city police. He also spoke to the media and mentioned about certain new allowances for the police staff all over Karnataka.

Soon after receiving the Guard of Honour and flagging off the vehicles, Parameshwara spoke about the new patrol vehicles and said, “Each vehicle is equipped with tablets and GPS devices to help the police in reaching the spot where trouble is reported within a response time of five minutes.”

He further went on to say that the government was launching the same vehicles in Mysuru, Belagavi, Hubballi – Dharwad and other places under city corporation limits within the next two weeks. “There are 362 patrol vehicles in Bengaluru which were launched earlier in 2016 and they have been very effective in fighting crime. In Mangaluru, we have released 25 vehicles of the same kind since the city is way smaller than Bengaluru”, he added.

Speaking about the shortage in police staff, he said, “We are having an acute shortage in police constables in Karnataka. In all, 16000 constables have already been recruited and the process for absorbing 8000 more constables and 1000 sub-inspectors is already underway.”

With regard to the promotions of the police staff he added, “Before the government revised the promotion policy, the constables were promoted once in 22 years. Now, the same period has been reduced to 10 years so that by the time they retire they would be able to reach higher posts like ASI.”

Speaking about the assault case against MLA Raju Kage who is absconding at the moment, Parameshwara said, “An FIR has been lodged against the culprits and investigation is on. The Government will take strict action against the accused.”