Blame it on the Palike

The lacklustre attitude of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in ensuring proper civic facilities at many places has been a prominent cause for the sharp rise in crime and accidents in the City.

There is a crying need for co-ordinated efforts by the local administrative body and the police department to ensure a safe and secure neighbourhood, which is not the case in Bangalore, say the Central Crime Branch police.

“I have been in the crime branch for the last 20 years and have seen crimes taking place in a few select areas. These areas lack proper lighting and the BBMP rarely services such areas. Criminals use such spaces to commit robberies, murders, molestations and extortions.

Moreover, the jurisdictional police fail to patrol such locations. Geographical features like curves, ups and downs and valleys coupled with the negligent attitude of the Palike and the jurisdictional police are the primary reasons for petty crimes,” says a CCB police inspector.

A series of chain-snatching incidents were reported near Ragigudda in Jayanagar 9th Block. Police nabbed two chain- snatchers by opening fire while they were trying to rob a woman in a desolate place. The duo said they committed such acts only in poorly lit areas.

Months later, two software professionals who were returning home early morning after arriving from Chennai, were accosted near their house in Hosur Layout. A five-member gang came in a Tata Sumo and robbed them of their valuables.

The CCB police arrested 10 associates of notorious rowdy Bettangere Seena in an open desolate space near Jnanabharathi area when they were about to commit an armed robbery. Over 90 per cent of such cases have taken place in residential localities which lacked streetlights and were sparsely populated. The trend stresses the need for providing facilities and intensifying patrolling, says the officer.

It is not just incidents of crime, but accidents too are on the rise in these areas. The local administration has failed to asphalt roads in many places. Potholed roads, mud roads and garbage-strewn stretches are common.

Many of the roads have unscientific humps which are constructed using cement. Some of the humps are constructed based on the recommendations of the traffic police. The humps should have cat eyes, there should be signage boards at least 100 metres before the humps and they should be painted either white or yellow.

In a majority of the accident cases, the injured claim they failed to notice the humps. Many of them lose balance, fall down and sustain severe injuries. The risk worsens during monsoon when rainwater fills potholes. Motorists are the worst victims of such incidents, the traffic police say.