Police personnel in Bengaluru’s Central Business District may soon have new uniforms, as Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai informed the Assembly of the upcoming ‘revamp’ of the central and bustling area in Bengaluru. The Chief Minister was speaking about the Bengaluru Smart City Project in the Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday, December 22, when he shared news about the upcoming revamp.
Speaking about the development of the central part of the city where the majority of the smart city works have been taken up, Chief Minister Bommai said that the revamp will include new traffic signals, signages, parking arrangements and the uniform of the police personnel deployed in the area.
“The Signalling has to be changed, the parking has to be changed and even the policemen’s clothes will have to be special. We have planned even the minute things,” the Chief Minister said.
“Currently, we have taken up the project in the central district, as a lot of people visiting from other countries and states come here. Moreover, there are many important offices and businesses in the central district. We want to develop the central district as a showcase and later, after this, we want to develop other places based on this model,” Bommai added.
The Bengaluru Smart City Project is aimed at improving the infrastructure of the city. The project for Bengaluru was approved on 28 June, 2017 under the Smart Cities Mission of the Union government. It was incorporated as a Public Limited Company on 03 January 2018.
However, the Smart City Project has drawn criticism after several areas, especially the roads, had been damaged, choking up traffic in the heart of the city. Several questions were raised about the living conditions of the workers who were employed for the Smart City works. TNM had visited some of the shanties that these workers have been housed at. Read our report here: Workers toiling for Bengaluru Smart City project are living in abysmal conditions
Another criticism about the project was that there was hardly any say for the public in the works. Even several elected representatives had complained that they didn't have any say or even information on the works.