JOIN USMinister keen to cut ribbon before building is ready
Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka’s reported move to get the new office of Bangalore Police Commissioner inaugurated, even before the completion of the work, has not gone down well with senior police officers.
To ‘take credit’ for the six-storey building that has come up on the police commissioner’s office premises on Infantry Road, Ashoka is said to be pressuring officials to ensure that the building is inaugurated in a couple of weeks, before the model code of conduct for the Assembly elections comes into force.
A retired IPS officer who had played a key role in getting the project implemented, told Deccan Herald that it would take at least two months to make the new building fully functional. Telecommunication system, wood work, fixing audio system and work stations are among the works that are yet to be completed.
Also, work on interiors has not yet commenced. The Home Department has, however, ‘forced’ the Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation (KSPHC) to issue an oral statement that it is ready to hand over the new building to the department any time.
When at least 10 per cent of the overall work is pending, Ashoka, who holds the Home portfolio, is making all out efforts to get the building inaugurated with the sole intention of taking credit for it ahead of the Assembly polls, the officer claimed.
Similar views were expressed by a few other senior police officers working in the City.
According to the original plan, the building was to be completed in two years.
However, the project has taken nearly five years for completion. Ashoka, it is said, did not show any special interest in ensuring speedy completion all these years.
On Ashoka’s instructions, Police Commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji met Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and tried to fix a date for the inauguration in the second week of March.
The model code of conduct will come into force from second week if the poll dates are announced. Anyhow, Shettar would preside over the proposed event, a senior officer said on condition of anonymity said.
Additional Director General of Police, KSPHC, M N Reddi, told Deccan Herald that the KSPHC is all set to hand over the building to the department.
The State government had assigned responsibility for the construction of the new building to the KSPHC, but not for furnishing it. It is up to the government to choose any agency for the same, a KSPHC engineer said.