Contact Ayukta if cops demand bribe: George

Bangalore: Home Minister K.J. George asked the people to approach the Lokay­ukta or any senior police officer if policemen dem­anded bribe.

After inaugurating the ‘Spandana’ centre at Basavanagudi police station on Tuesday, he said, “The state police are do­ing a good job, but a few black sheep are tarnishing the image of the entire force. The government has zero tolerance for corrupt officials. The public should complain to the Lokayukta or senior officers if any po­­­l­­i­ceman demand br­ibe. The government will take stringent action ag­a­inst officers who face corruption charges,” he said. He advised businessmen to strictly follow the rules and guidelines. “If there is no violation, no official will harass them nor demand bribe from them,” he added.

He said the government has invited tenders for the construction of 11,000 houses for policemen. “We have plans to complete the project within two years. There are also plans to build some quarters near Met­ro stations, so that the policemen could use Me­tro to commute easily. Also, the process of recruiting 8,500 policemen is on. As it would require at least one-and-a-half years for them to complete training and get postings, we will start the process of recruiting 7,000 home guards shortly.

Their services can be utilised for traffic management and maintenance of law and order,” he said. Mayor B.S. Satyana­rayana said the police department should make use of lands belonging to the Muzrai Department to build residential quarters for its staff. “There are some lands belonging to the department in the city and land grabbers are trying to occupy them. As there is no sufficient vacant land in core areas of the city, such lands should be provided to build residential quarters for policemen.” Police Commissioner Raghavendra H. Aura­d­kar and others were present in the event.