Although home affairs minister Sahara Khatun was late in joining the parliamentary session on Tuesday and attributed the delay to traffic jam, in reply to questions by a lawmaker she claimed that traffic congestion in Dhaka had been reduced considerably as the police had brought about some discipline in the traffic flow.
Responding to a question by Nasimul Alam Chowdhury, she claimed that measures like making some of the streets one-way and introduction of community policing in a number of areas had eased traffic congestion.
She said 155 closed-circuit television cameras have been set up at 59 points to monitor traffic flow.
Sahara said that the digital control room of Dhaka
Metropolitan Police could not become operational as it requires fibre connectivity. She also said after installation of some equipment a few minor faults were detected but they have been fixed.
When M Abdul Latif wanted to know whether there was any plan to invest the responsibility of probing complaints against the police in any impartial agency, Sahara told him that each of the forces conducts inquiry against their members as per the law so there is no plan to introduce a new scheme.
She said that 18 thanas were under the process of being made model police stations under the Police Reform Programme, and 25 thanas under the Japan Debt Cancellation Fund.
Sahara also said that speed detectors and alcohol detectors have been bought for the police and will be soon brought into operation.
She informed the Parliament that at present there were 452 police outposts across the country.
Sahara told the House that at present 134 women members of the police were working for the UN Peace Keeping Missions.
-With New Age input
