Dhaka, other cities to be made safer: Home minister

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Thursday said Dhaka and other important cities will be brought under the 'Safe City Project' soon to make those free from crimes, reports UNB.

"Some 14,000-16,000 modern and high-tech CCTV cameras will be installed along 6,000 kilometres of road in Dhaka to identify criminals with their photos from their national identity (NID) cards," he said.

The home minister was talking to reporters after a review meeting on proper planning for implementing digital services and future possibility.

He said Dhaka will be made a safe city first under the project and then Chattogram and other cities.

Elaborating the process, Asaduzzaman said the traffic system will be controlled through the CCTV cameras to reduce gridlocks, and cars violating the traffic rules will also be identified using cameras. "The cameras will recognise the faces of criminals and allow law enforcers to locate their positions," he added.

Filing GD online

The home minister also said people will now be able to lodge general diary (GD) online with any police station.

A single-member committee has been formed to look into how the system can be implemented, he said, adding that the online GD system will be launched in Dhaka and Mymensingh first and later it will be introduced in other cities as well.

Online Police Verification

Asaduzzaman said steps are being taken so that activities, including police verification, of all the police stations go online. "Once the service is introduced, people won't need to wait for long to receive the police verification certificate," he said.

Talking to relatives from prison

The home minister told reporters that they have already launched the 'Swajan' project in Tangail prison where prisoners can talk to their relatives directly over phone. "This has reduced the number of visitors to that prison by 80 percent," he added.

This project will be launched in every prison as per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.

Hotline 999

Asaduzzaman said a six-member committee has been formed with the additional secretary (Police) as its chief to formulate a policy for making '999 Service' more people-friendly and reaching the service to the marginal level.

A joint secretary from the Security Services Division and representatives from police and Directorate General of Health Services are also there in the committee, he said.