672 new patrol vehicles to strengthen B'luru policing

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: The city police will get 672 brand new vehicles to patrol the streets. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration BM Laxmi Prasad said preparations were underway to handover the vehicles to police stations as per their requirement by the end of this month.

According to police sources, the vehicles have been procured under the central government's Nirbhaya fund and are stationed at the City Armed Reserve (CAR) ground at the Mysuru Road here. The fleet includes 112 Ertiga MPVs (Multi-Purpose Vehicles), 112 Bolero SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) and 448 TVS bikes.

These vehicles will soon be handed over to 111 law and order police stations and 48 traffic police stations, sources said. In a recent notification the Road Transport and Highways Ministry statd that all vehicles owned by central and state governments, including buses owned by transport corporations and public sector undertakings, that are older than 15 years will be de-registered and scrapped from April 1 this year.

"Disposal of such vehicles shall, after the expiry of the fifteen years from the date of initial registration of the vehicle, (should) be ensured through the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility set up in accordance with the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Rules, 2021," the notification stated. Therefore, the city police will stop the movement of vehicles over 15 years of age by the end of next March.

Meanwhile, new vehicles with modern technology will be added to the police stations. Ease of patrolling At present, the Law and Order police personnel in the city are utilising cars inscribed with the word 'Hoysala' and two-wheelers named 'Cheetah' for patrolling the areas across their respective police station limits.

These vehicles have been helpful in reaching the crime scene immediately following alerts from the police control room. While Inspectors use Bolero vehicles, Sub-Inspectors, Assistant Sub-Inspectors use Cheetah two-wheelers during their patrol duties.

Police sources said that recently the Administration had provided several cars to the traffic police stations in the city. Vehicles as per requirement The Administration earlier asked the police stations in Bengaluru to information about vehicles older than 15 years.

After providing new vehicles to the police, the older vehicles will be sent to the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) to ensure their scrapping. Earlier during the tenure of Megharikh NS as the Bengaluru Additional Commissioner of Police, CAR, more than 200 new vehicles were purchased and distributed to police stations.