Mysuru: Neelamani N. Raju, the first woman Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG and IGP) of Karnataka will appoint Mysuru Superintendent of Police Ravi D. Channannavar as the Nodal Officer to make all Police Stations in Karnataka “people-friendly.”

The announcement was made yesterday in city where the DG and IGP held a meeting with the SPs of five districts at the Southern Range IGP’s Office for the first time after assuming charge as the State’s top cop. Neelamani Raju visited the Mysuru Rural Police Station that has been converted into a people-friendly Police Station and was impressed by its functioning.

Learning from the SP about the functioning of the Rural Police Station without expecting grants from the Government, she appreciated the SP’s move to collect funds from the public in providing a library, visitor’s lounge, a separate toilet for women, pure drinking water facility, and a garden in front of the Police Station.

Impressed by the people-friendly initiatives, Neelamani Raju announced on-the-spot that she would appoint Ravi Channannavar as the Nodal Officer to make all the Police Stations in the State people-friendly.

Addressing the officers, she said that women in general avoid going to Police Stations and her priority would be to make them more women-friendly. She explained how the government has undertaken schemes for women officers and Constables but still a lot of work needs to be done.

“I would like to see Police become friendlier to everybody and women in particular so that they are not afraid to come to the Police Station,” she said. On Police becoming more sensitive while dealing with crimes against women, she said, “I am sure they are done properly but sometimes things are not as good as one would like them to be.” However, she claimed that these cases are a few in number in Karnataka.

With the BJP already threatening the State Govt. that they will not allow Tipu Jayanti to be held on Nov. 10, the new top cop said that this will be her first major challenge but with her team of officers, plans are already afoot. “We will take measures to ensure that the event passes of peacefully,” she added.

She told her officers that as many people and organisations have opposed Tipu Jayanti in Mysuru and Kodagu, special care must be taken to avoid any untoward incidents. If need be, ban orders must be imposed to bring situation under control, she told the officers.

Southern Range IGP Vipul Kumar, Mysuru SP Ravi Channannavar, Hassan SP Rahul Kumar Shahapur, Kodagu SP Rajendra Prasad, Chamarajanagar SP Dharmendra Kumar Meena and Mandya SP G. Radhika, Mysuru City Police Commissioner Dr. A. Subrahmanyeswara Rao, DCPs N. Vishunuvardhana and Dr. Vikram V. Amathe were present.