Hyderabad: Shattering all rumours and fears that law and order would go for a toss if separate Statehood was given to Telangana, the State has remained incident-free for the last six and a half years, thus becoming a role model for other States on how to maintain law and order effectively, IT Minister KT Rama Rao said here on Wednesday.
He was speaking after launching India’s first Public Safety Integrated Operations and Data Centre at the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate here.
“Like many of you, I was born elsewhere and later came to the city for pursuing my eighth, ninth and tenth classes at St George’s Grammar School in Abids. I still vividly remember that we used to look forward for holidays for a week or 10 days every year without any expectations when I was 13 years. We used to get additional holidays for 10 days due to curfews imposed for various reasons,” he said, recalling his experience with respect to law and order in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
“But I feel sorry for the children of today as the situation has changed and thanks to the Telangana Police, there have been no curfews or any communal tension in the city for the last six and a half years. Hyderabad is peaceful,” Rao said, adding that one should not forget the context in which Telangana was formed.
First of all, there was legacy of communal tension apart from the Maoist threat. Fears were galore over law and order issues if a separate Telangana was carved out, with even fabricated reports coming out that there would be regional conflicts on both local and non-local issues.
Some even expressed apprehensions about the future of Telangana and how it would attract industries and investments. Widespread propaganda was unleashed stating that some industries would pack their bags and leave the State. However, a politically stable government and effective policing has ensured that Telangana has so far been an incident-free State without any clashes.
The reason, Rao pointed out, was the firm decision taken by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in 2014, sanctioning Rs 280 crore for improving equipment and infrastructure for the police apart from introducing an entirely new fleet of vehicles.
Interceptor vehicles replaced old vehicles and seven new Commissionerates were established in the State in addition to the existing two, while 100 new police stations were also set up, he added.
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