The old City Police Commissioner’s office on Infantry Road will join the list of heritage structures and will most likely house a police museum, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said here on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the swanky new comissionerate building, he said many senior officials have suggested that the government preserve the charming 19th Century building, which is 138 years old.
The colonial structure has a unique architectural style and the Bangalore police are very sentimental about it. “So we are planning to declare it as a heritage building and develop it into a police museum.”
Mr. Shettar said the government is taking all steps to strengthen policing in the State. The police will get a state-of-the-art law library and be equipped with combat forces.
The government has agreed for a new building for the Belgaum Commissionerate, and has provided almost 1,000 vehicles and other infrastructure to the Hubli-Dharwad Commissionerate.
Home Minister R. Ashok said there was proposal to reorganise the traffic limits of the city into four divisions from the present two. The present police infrastructure was sanctioned when the city’s population was a mere half of what it is now and the police force should be commensurate with the population growth.
City police Commissioner B.G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji said it would take at least a couple of months for the police to shift to the new building.
The new premises
Senior police officers of the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and above, who were working from different parts of the city, will now have offices under a single roof at the six-storey building.
Sources in Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation (KSPHC), which has designed the building, said the idea to have all senior police officers of the commissionerate working out of the same premises to ensure better coordination and easier access to the public.
The state-of-the-art building not only has foolproof security but is also designed in such a way to allow maximum natural light and ventilation, said KSPHC Superintending Engineer Madhava S.
It has used ecofriendly technology from Germany using minimal wood. It has provision for a helipad though it has not been commissioned yet. The building is Wi-Fi enabled.
