Bengaluru police set-up to undergo major overhaul

The police set-up in Bengaluru is set for an overhaul. Some police stations will disappear, while new ones will come up. The aim is to equally distribute the workload among police stations and ensure an effective mechanism to redress grievances.

“We have proposed the rationalisation of the Bengaluru police organisation. The proposal ensures equal distribution of work to DCPs, ACPs and police inspectors,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hithendra, who is also in charge of administration, told DH.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner N S Megharikh said the proposal was being considered at the government level.

Under the proposal, nine existing police stations will be abolished to make way for as many new ones. But the number of police stations will remain unchanged. Bengaluru has 153 police stations — 110 of law and order and 43 of traffic. An independent police division (Whitefield) will be created, too.

Four police stations and two SP-rank positions from the Excise and Lottery (E&L) wing were added to the Bengaluru police in 2015 after the government abolished it. The post of DCP (Traffic-North) was created using an SP-rank position of the E&L wing. Another SP-rank position of the wing will be used for creating the Whitefield division. Creating the Whitefield division will spare the residents of the IT hub the hassle of going all the way to Koramangala if they want to meet the jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast).

Hithendra spoke of how unequal distribution of workload was burdening the police stations. Police stations such as Madiwala and Peenya record the highest number of cases, while Victoria and Bowring Hospital police stations the lowest (less than 10 per year), he said. “We are going to restructure the set-up in such a way that all police stations get equal workload and comparable jurisdiction,” he explained.

Presently, the workload is grossly unequal among police divisions. The Southeast division records around 12,000 cases a year, Northeast 2,000, Central 4,000, West 1,000, and South, North and East 900 each. Accordingly, some police stations get more workload, while others far less. This has affected both the police and the public, the officer said.

What’s more, police stations like Banashankari and Basaveshwaranagar are located in adjacent areas. Local residents end up wasting time, energy and money while approaching the right police station. Inspectors of such police stations often get complaints from neighbouring jurisdiction.

“Names of certain areas and their pin codes don’t match with the jurisdictional police station pin codes. This has made passport verification problematic. The restructuring will fix such problems,” Hithendra said.
DH News Service

MLAs oppose abolishing police stations
Some MLAs have opposed the proposal to restructure the police set-up in Bengaluru as their constituencies will lose police stations. They have requested Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah to reject the proposal. Home Minister G Parameshwara, however, is keen on implementing the proposal in toto.

Police stations to be abolished: City Market, Airport (HAL), Thyagarajanagar, Victoria Hospital, Bowring Hospital, Lingarajapuram and three stations under the Excise and Lottery (E&L) wing.

New police stations: Bandepalya, Bellandur, Marathahalli, Begur, Gurappanapalya, Konanakunte, Puttenahalli, Bagalagunte and Annapurneshwari Nagar (Moodalapalya).