Mangaluru is not 'hub of communal riots' but peace-loving and friendly: Top cop

City Police Commissioner T R Suresh lamented the "negative portrayal" of Mangaluru as a hub of communal riots on social media. In reality, the people of Mangaluru are peace-loving and friendly, he said.

Speaking during an interactive session organised by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) at Bunder here on Wednesday, the police commissioner elaborated that he was initially reluctant to come to Mangaluru nine months ago when he was posted here on a transfer. "This was because of the distorted image of Mangaluru, known as a place for communal riots, had been built on social media. As far as the particular tag was concerned, he was now on a more positive ground as all the negative portrayal of Mangaluru was merely a social media hype," Suresh said.

He said he has, however, realised that the incidents of communal clashes were exaggerated, even though there were more communally sensitive and hypersensitive places in the state, other than Mangaluru. Even in terms of crime rates, many other places have outnumbered Mangaluru, he said.

He meanwhile, noted that the so called communal riots or clashes were exaggerated only when people of different communes were engaged. Rumours are extensively spread during such incidents. On the contrary, riots will not come to the fore if the clash breaks out between people belonging to the same commune.

'Roads overcrowded'

"Mangaluru roads are overburdened. Vehicles that ply in the city are 10 times more than the normal withstanding capacity of the roads. There are 6,54,000 vehicles in Mangaluru and Bantwal taluks put together as on December 2017. A significant number of vehicles from Kerala too ply on the roads of Mangaluru, the city being a hub of trade activities," T R Suresh said.

Stating that lack of parking space is adding to the problem, he said that discussions are being held with the district administration and Mangaluru City Corporation towards shifting bus stands in the city. A survey is being carried out by traffic advisory committee in this regard, he said.

Interacting with the members of KCCI, T R Suresh said that in one or two years, the traffic department will go on a total cashless mode in terms of collection of fines. Currently, the department has gone 70% cashless through the automation centres.

Traffic surveillance

A total of 100 CCTV cameras are installed in the city to check traffic violations and 90 additional CCTV cameras will be installed in the near future. Also, more surveillance cameras will be installed as part of the smart city programme, he said.

The Police Commissioner further said that tender process towards the variable messaging system is on. Under the programme, display boards showing the traffic status in the city will be installed at a cost of Rs 1 crore.

KCCI president Vathika Pai submitted a memorandum to the Police Commissioner on the occasion, requesting him to solve traffic related issues in the city.