The Opposition, on Thursday, put the government in a spot over soaring crime in the State capital and its suburbs with the presence of international drug trade, crime against women, terror threats and chain-snatching incidents being reported regularly.
The two questions posed by Congress MLCs – M.S. Prabhakar Rao and P. Sudhakar Reddy, led to a heated debate that lasted close to 45 minutes with Treasury and Opposition members locking horns over a comment made by Mr. Rao, indicating the inefficiency of the city police force.
The Congress member’s remark that while each police station was given an Innova for patrolling, the personnel park the vehicles under trees and play card games on their cell phones, drew strong objection by Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao.
The Minister snapped back saying, “We all know who run gambling clubs in the city.” The Minister later defended the police, stating that Hyderabad, when compared to other cities, had a low crime rate. Mr. Harish Rao also demanded that Mr. Rao withdraw the remark and apologise.
“Police is an implementing agency and the morale of personnel in this department should not be hurt,” Chairman of the Council, K. Swamy Goud, ruled, suggesting the remark could be expunged after going through the records. Both the sides, however, refused to apologise.
The Opposition, however, stood its ground with Mr. Prabhakar Rao bringing to notice 14-15 chain-snatching cases that plague the city.
The city has mafia overlords, drug traders and people with terror links, he suggested. “Hyderabad is vulnerable to attacks. The State should up the counter intelligence and narcotic wings,” said N. Ramachandra Rao of the BJP. MIM MLC Altaf Rizvi pointed out that the quality of CCTV cameras installed in the city was poor.
