Chain-Snatching Menace Rock Telangana Council

The unending chain-snatching menace, which has been keeping women and their family members jittery, today rocked the Telangana Council during Question Hour.

As the Opposition targeted the government over the ever-increasing chain-snatchings and the failure of law and order, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy offered to resign from his post if the Opposition proved that the law and order had indeed failed in the State.

"I will put in my papers if you prove the charge," he said in anguish.

The furious verbal war between the Treasury benches and the Opposition on the issue was raked up by Congress member Prabhakar Rao. Rao also kicked up a controversy by saying that policemen were playing card games on their cell phones in the vehicles provided by the government ignoring their legitimate duties of policing, which was what was leading to a spurt in the crime rate.

BJP member N Ramachander Rao added salt to the injury alleging that terrorist activities and illegal supply of arms were going on in the city.

Irked by the comments of Opposition members, the Home Minister was on his feet for quite some time, and snubbed both Prabhakar Rao and Ramachander Rao.

Admitting that chain-snatchings were rampant despite round-the-clock police patrolling in the vulnerable areas, Narasimha Reddy favoured some changes in the law to deal with the criminals with an iron hand.

He said that taking undue advantage of the old Police Act in force, chain-snatchers and criminals were going free in just 15 days of being caught. "To check this problem, we are invoking the Preventive Detention Act, and will make amendments to plug the loopholes," he said.

The Home Minister contended that the crime rate had been brought down in Hyderabad, and was far lesser than in other metros including Delhi and Bengaluru.

Patting the police department for ensuring peaceful conduct of the Ganesh festival and the Godavari pushkaralu, Reddy said that the Command Control Center kept a continuous vigil to ensure law and order.

The tendering process for the construction of the CCC and to set up an adequate number of CCTVs was nearing completion, he added.