The Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) now has an online complaint registry system. This was launched in Bangalore on Thursday by BMTF’s Additional Director-General of Police R.P. Sharma.
“Even if some complaints do not come under our purview, we will forward them to the agency concerned. The entire website will be operational from Monday. The National Informatics Centre is working on this, while the website has been developed by Software Guru, an IT development and training centre in Mysore,” he said.
The BMTF was created with the objective of preventing, detecting, investigating offences and to prosecute those indulging in unauthorised occupation of land/property belonging to the government and government organisations in the Bangalore Metropolitan area. These organisations include the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, the Bangalore Development Authority, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, the Karnataka Slum Board and local bodies.
Making progress
Mr. Sharma said since mid-2011, the BMTF had detected around 150 cases. However, from 1999 to mid-2011, only 32 cases have been detected. “There are other intangible results that cannot be quantified, i.e. in the prevention of cases. The BMTF’s presence has been felt. We are working towards removing the window of service deficit. The website and the toll-free number will help the BMTF achieve this goal,” he said.
He said the BMTF was working with “limited support and architectural structure”. The BMTF’s jurisdiction is over 805 sq km with a population of 10 million. It has just 76 sanctioned posts, of which 30 per cent are vacant.
“The task is big, but the architectural structure is small. We are working with the government to strengthen the same. We are working overtime to tide over the constraints,” he added.