Making Mangalore another Mumbai

The coastal city of Mangalore, which was looked upon as the second growth centre in the state after Bangalore, now seems to have got a new role model. No, it is not Bangalore, but Mumbai.

The chief minister, home minister and the director general of police harped on this aspect during the inauguration of the police commissioner’s office here on Saturday.

“Mangalore city has a high propensity to grow and develop into a city of the size of Mumbai,” said chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, adding that this was likely to happen sooner rather than later. He said the city has the resources, and its location is another enabling factor to help it achieve high development and growth.

“We are not lacking in money to give the best to Mangalore, not for just developmental designs but also for maintenance of law and order. The Central government had already warned about the porosity of the coastal areas and the state intelligence has also had its reasons for the policing to be scaled up,” he added.

Home minister R Ashoka, however, had a different view. “I see the city had a few issues that had to be speedily dealt with an iron hand of law. Just like Mumbai, the city faces threat from terrorrists and underworld elements. And, in addition, Mangalore city and Dakshina Kannada district had to face the communal goons and naxalites as internal threats.”

DGP Shankar M Bidari too was concerned about the threats the city faces from the coast.

“For many reasons, including geographical and strategic, Mangalore will be more like Mumbai. The city’s security needs to be tightened. We are now in a process of equipping the police force with men, armaments, vehicles and material by taking the experience of the city of Mumbai in fighting crime and terror,” he said. He thanked the chief minister for assuring continued financial support to upgrade the Mangalore police force.