Social media hype, gives bad image for city, says police Commissioner, at KCCI

Social media hype, gives bad image for city, says police Commissioner, at KCCI

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Mar 08, 2018: Speaking during an interactive session organised by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) at Bunder here on March 7,Wednesday, the city police commissioner elaborated that he was initially reluctant to come to Mangaluru when he was posted here on a transfer.

Mangaluru  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.


Fake Image :  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, a more positive ground as all the negative portrayal of Mangaluru is merely a social media hype, the commissioner 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 are ahead of Mangaluru, he said.

He stated 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 community.

“Mangaluru roads are overburdened. Vehicles that ply in the city are 10 times more than the normal capacity of the roads. There are 6,54,000 vehicles in Mangaluru and Bantwal taluks put together till December 2017. A significant number of vehicles from Kerala too go through Mangaluru, as the city is a hub of trade activities,” the police commissioner 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, Suresh said that in a couple of 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, he added.

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.