Home Minister promises to reduce police vacancies

He praises Mangaluru, Udupi police for phone-in programmes

Home Minister M.B. Patil during a review meeting in Mangaluru on Monday.

Home Minister M.B. Patil on Monday said the vacant positions in the Mangaluru City Police Commissionerate and Dakshina Kannada police will be brought down from 40% to 20% .

Talking to reporters after a brief review of the Mangaluru city, the Dakshina Kannada, and the Udupi police, Mr. Patil said: “Though I cannot promise to resolve it by 100%, I can bridge the gap to help create a comfortable zone for chiefs of the police units to work with,” he said.

Mr. Patil said he will work to change the perception about policing in the coastal region and prompt locals to apply for vacant posts here.

Many of those working in the coastal Karnataka region are from North Karnataka.

While commending the Mangaluru City and the Udupi police for holding weekly phone-in programme, Mr. Patil said the two units should continue the drive against consumption of narcotic drugs.

On the petition of Umadevi Kalburgi before the Supreme Court seeking comprehensive and fair probe in the murder of her husband M.M. Kalburgi, journalist Gauri Lankesh and activists Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar, Mr. Patil said the State government has nothing to do with it. “It concerns the Central Bureau of Investigation and families of the deceased,” he said.

On the ongoing search for the fishing boat Suvarna Tribhuja, Mr. Patil said the Navy has now deployed a new boat to scan the sea bed.