Top Cop’s Phone-In Programme Receives 32 Callers with Various Civic/Traffic Issues
Mangaluru: It was Police Commissioner Anupam Agarwal’s FIRST Phone-In Programme on Saturday, 11 November from 10 am-11 am after he had assumed office on 6 September 2023, where he answered 32 callers who had called in with various Civic/Traffic issues. Complaints about footpaths encroached on by vehicles for parking and street vendors for business; commercial buildings using basement parking for other purposes; buses not plying as per their schedule; restaurants serving alcohol with no liquor license etc were addressed by the police commissioner with suitable answers.
It should be noted that the police phone-in programme was the initiative of the former Police commissioner M Chandrashekar during the year 2016, which went on to complete 100 programmes during his tenure. Later the programme was continued further by police commissioners Sandeep Patil and Dr Harsha. However, the phone-in programme was discontinued post the police firing incident in 2019 in Mangaluru. Four years later, Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar Jain decided to resume the Phone-In programme, to resolve the problems faced by the public, either related to traffic or other civic issues, under the City Police Commissionerate limits. And now the present police commissioner had his First Phone-In programme after assuming his office.
During the phone-in programme, a caller from Yekkur informed that it is very difficult to cross the road on highways for school children. Another caller said that private buses are not regular to Kunjathbail. Some urged the police to retain the old system of bus parking in Statebank as students are facing problems. A caller requested the police to take action against the illegal sale of liquor in Hotel Amantrana on Nandigudda Road, Attavar, Mangaluru. A senior citizen from Ganjimath informed that footpaths have been encroached on by street vendors. While a few callers informed about parking problems in the city as vehicles are parked on the footpath, some informed about auto-rickshaw drivers charging exorbitant prices while travelling from railway stations. Responding to the caller, the police commissioner said that the department will initiate proper action.
With increasing complaints regarding the street vendors encroaching on the footpaths, the police commissioner said that the police officers in the city will hold a drive to make footpaths free for pedestrian usage. Hence, the department will initiate a drive named ‘Footpath for Pedestrians’ very shortly,” he added. Responding to a caller, the police commissioner ordered officials to initiate action against shrill horns and to declare the residential areas, old age homes, hostels, and school and college zones as ‘Silent Zones’ free from horns.
DCP (Law & Order) Siddharth Goyal, DCP (Crime & Traffic) Dinesh Kumar; Mangaluru North sub-division ACP Mahesh Kumar; ACP CCB P A Hegde; PI Ullal Balakrishna; Ravish Nayak-ACP CCRP; Gopalkrishna Bhat- PI Kadri East Traffic Police; Gurudutt Kamath-CCRB PI; Manoj-ACP North; Purander -PSI CCRP, among others were present.
