Home minister asks Karnataka police to keep vigil against illegal immigrants

Bengaluru: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday exhorted law and order officials here to maintain a strict vigil over the entry of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants into the city and also asked them to take action to address the issue of discrimination against people from the Northeast.

Reviewing the law and order situation in the state capital with officials at the airport here as he wrapped up his visit to Karnataka, Singh stressed on the need for having a "people-friendly and tough police" to take "strong action against criminals and terrorists".

Bengaluru, considered to be the Information and Technology capital of India, has been on the terror radar with several terrorist modules trying to target the city.

In order to deal with the menace of the sale of prepaid SIM cards, the Home Minister asked the state police to take action against all those who were selling such cards without following the laid-down procedures.

The Home Minister also referred to alleged discrimination against people from the Northeast in the city and instructed the authorities to take action against those who were found to be responsible for violations in this regard.

Singh said he will "positively examine" the demand by the state government for two additional battalions for Karnataka and also assured that the Centre would consider increasing the number of Marine India Reserve Battalions in the state to strengthen coastal security for its 300-km long coastline stretching from Mangalore to Dakshin Kanada.

He asked the state police to fill on priority basis the vacancies, which now stand at nearly 20 per cent of its total strength of 80,057 personnel and advised them to adopt the latest technologies for modernisation of the force.