IT boom presents new challenges for the police

IT boom presents new challenges for the police

The Hindu

With the rise in the number of affluent people, crime has also gone up in some of the posh areas

# Shortage of staff is making patrolling difficult
# A Southeast division is being created to improve policing
# New division to cover areas under the IT corridor
# New police stations planned at Electronic City, HSR Layout, Parappana Agrahara and Hulimavu

BANGALORE: The unprecedented growth witnessed in the southeastern parts of the city following the IT revolution has posed new challenges for the police.

Several software companies, call centres, apartment complexes, residential layouts and shopping malls have come up in the IT belt comprising Madivala, Koramangala, BTM Layout, HSR Layout, Bannerghatta Road, Hosur Road, Sarjapur Road and Whitefield.

With the increase in population, mainly of the affluent people, in these areas, cases of robbery, chain snatching and burglary have also gone up. The police are finding it difficult to patrol the newly developed areas with the existing staff.

Staff strength

According to sources in the police, the staff strength of important police stations such as Koramangala and Madivala has remained the same for the past 10 years. It is said that the staff strength at Madivala police station is the same as that of Shankarapuram station, which has jurisdiction over a smaller area.

After a series of robberies and thefts in Madivala and Koramangala police station limits, policemen from neighbouring stations have been put on patrolling duty in these areas, the sources said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) M.C. Narayana Gowda said the top brass was aware of the problems the public and the police in these areas were facing. A new and "compact" police division, Southeast division, was being created to improve policing in the IT corridor, he said.

"The Finance Department has cleared the proposal for the Southeast division. The Government notification in this regard is awaited," he said.

New division

The proposed Southeast division would cover the areas coming under the IT corridor: from the International Technology Park Ltd. in Whitefield to Bannerghatta Road. The new division would include the Madivala, Koramangala and MICO Layout police stations of the South division, Airport and HAL police stations of the East division and Varthur, Kadugodi and Whitefield police stations of Bangalore Rural district, Mr. Narayana Gowda said.

Further, new police stations would be established at Electronic City, HSR Layout, Parappana Agrahara and Hulimavu. These stations would also come under the new division that would be headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, he said.

Burglaries

Referring to the crimes reported from these areas in which a large number of IT professionals were residing, he said there had been many incidents of burglars identifying the houses of software engineers and looting them.

For instance, on July 15, an armed gang looted gold ornaments and electronic gadgets from the house of Subrato Bagchi, Chief Operating Officer of Mind Tree Consulting Pvt. Ltd, a leading IT firm. The gang had tied up the security guard and assaulted him before entering Mr. Bagchi's house in Sector 4, HSR Layout.

Incidents of armed men waylaying and robbing software engineers, returning home from work or after dinner at a hotel, have also been reported from Koramangala and Madivala police station limits.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Madivala subdivision) N. Nagaraj is of the view that it would be incorrect to say that crimes had increased in these areas only after the advent of IT firms. "As these are developing areas, hectic economic activity is witnessed here. Not only IT professionals but also affluent people from other walks of life live here," he says.