The outgoing police commissioner of Pune, K Venkatesham carried a look of satisfaction on Saturday as he relinquished the charge to make way for Amitabh Gupta to take over on Sunday.
“Exceptional work was done by the social policing cell and the police during the lockdown,” said Venkatesham who will take over as additional director general (special operations) at the director general’s office in Mumbai.
Venkatesham’s colleagues praised the effective method of administration that the outgoing police chief brought to the city.
The highlights of his time in Pune include the Elgar Parishad case; launch of the WhatsApp police helpline for citizens of Pune; externment tracking system (ExTra); the growth of the Twitter handle of Pune police; the infrastructure overhaul in the city police system; the construction and launch of the Bharosa cell which has cells for women, children in conflict with law, and senior citizens; the construction and launch of the traffic police office in Yerawada among others.
“The Supreme Court target for reduction of road fatalities was 10 per cent, and in Pune we managed to reduce it by 23-26 per cent,” he said while addressing a press gathering on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}“The Supreme Court target for reduction of road fatalities was 10 per cent, and in Pune we managed to reduce it by 23-26 per cent,” he said while addressing a press gathering on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Some of the initiatives that he mentioned are still in the works which include the geo-tagging of private CCTV cameras and the intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) in association with Smart City.