• City Police Commissioner to hold meeting with MCC seeking assistance to create Ward-level awareness
• Devaraja Police Station (Law and Order, Traffic) to operate from one new building in January, 2023

Mysore/Mysuru: There has been a poor response to ‘Suraksha,’ a Police system to ascertain and verify the background of tenants who take houses on rent within the city limits. Only a few landlords have submitted applications in response to the Police announcement along with tenant details.

Following the arrest of Mangaluru cooker bomb accused Mohammad Shariq, who had taken a house on rent at Lokanayakanagar near Metagalli, the Mysuru City Police had on Nov. 26 come up with stringent measures — Suraksha — to verify the background of tenants who take houses on rent within the city limits.

The Police brought out two types of forms, ‘Suraksha-1’ for property owners renting their houses on rent or lease and another ‘Suraksha-2’ for those running Paying Guest (PG) accommodations, including home stays and any dwelling places given on rent.

City Police Commissioner Ramesh Banoth had announced that it was mandatory for landlords to verify the identity of their tenants before the end of December this year.

The forms to verify the identity of the tenants were made available in all Police Stations and could also be downloaded from the Police Department’s website. The intention of the Police was to bring all rented places including houses, apartments, home stays and PG facilities under one umbrella and make the neighbourhood safer.

As part of the process, landlords had to fill the verification form along with photocopy of any one of the tenants’ identities like Aadhaar card, passport, ration card, driving licence or voter identity card and submit the same to the jurisdictional Police Station.

Admitting that there has been a poor response to Suraksha, the City Top Cop told Star of Mysore that most of the landlords and house owners have not bothered to fill the applications and submit the same. “This is because there is a lack of awareness and there seems to be a confusion in the minds of residents. Many people call me for information and I have been convincing them that it is a novel scheme to prevent crimes,” Ramesh said.

The Police Department has plans to involve the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) in this plan and awareness will be created at Ward levels on the benefits of the plan. “I have already spoken to the MCC Commissioner in this regard and will hold meetings with Mysore Airport officers, hotel and lodge owners and PG accommodation owners to fully implement Suraksha,” he said.

MCC officials can verify the particulars submitted by the landlords. This apart, owners of hotels and lodges should also compulsorily verify the identity of the guests booking accommodation before handing over rooms, he said.

Devaraja Police Station

The Devaraja Police Station that is at present functioning from a rented premise on Dhanvanthri Road will soon have its own building at the spot where the Nallappa Thana Police Station existed (now demolished) on Deshika Road, behind Ambedkar Bhavan, Devaraja Mohalla.

A huge ground plus two floors has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 5.5 crore by Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. While the ground floor will be meant for Devaraja Police Law and Order wing, the first floor will be occupied by the Traffic wing. Facilities and chambers have been created for the Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors of the two wings along with facilities and rest rooms for women staff.

Most of the civil works have been completed and yesterday, City Police Commissioner Ramesh Banoth visited the new office along with ACP M.N. Shashidhar and Traffic Inspector Muniyappa and supervised the works. The building is being given finishing touches.

The date of inauguration will be finalised after intimating the Office of the Director General of Police in the first or second week of January 2023.