No Hyderabad traffic boss, no crime buster: 4 crucial departments remain headless

Hyderabad: Many crucial departments concerning public management lie headless even as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in Telangana is completing 7 months in office on June 2.

In the law and order realm, four major departments have no boss to review, decide, or implement decisions. Although the officer in charge oversees the day-to-day operations, the concern is already overburdened with other departments.

The post of Additional Commissioner-Traffic lies vacant even as Hyderabad is the busiest zone given the rush of commuters and public which largely rely on personal vehicles, metro, and app-based cab services.

Over the last couple of months, the city witnessed heavy VIP vehicle movement. Right from election visitors to polls, bike rallies, door-to-door campaigns, and beyond. Though Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had asked not to halt traffic beyond 5 minutes for his convoy, several complaints on how city traffic cops hold back traffic beyond 15 minutes and double whammy during scorching heat. The green signal given to his Deputy and other ministers is also a public cry.

After the transfer of IPS officer Vishwa Prasad in February 2024, who is now the Inspector General of City Police, the DCP Traffic (1) L Subba Rayudu has been made the charge. Hyderabad zone is largely divided into two parts based on the jurisdiction- North and South-- headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, each. There are close to 31 Traffic stations in the Hyderabad zone alone headed by an Inspector.

Joint Commissioner of Police- Crime is another important position lying vacant after the transfer of IPS G Sudheer Babu and his earlier successor IPS A V Ranganath. The Joint Commissioner of Crimes reviews very important financial frauds above a certain threshold of crime proceeds.

Over 1 crore cybercrime frauds are reported in Greater Hyderabad daily. The amount would be larger if the unreported cases were taken into consideration. From loan-based apps to online sales frauds, the channels to deceive gullible people have multiple.

After Cybercrime and land grabbing, Pre-Launch offers by builders are turning out to be the biggest scam in Hyderabad. So far 4 infrastructure companies have been booked for cheating hundreds of customers to a tune of Rs 1200 Cr. It is pertinent to note that, former ACP T S Umamaheshwar Rao was the investigating officer in the multi-crore Sahithi Infrastructure Fraud, that cheated customers in Hyderabad to the tune of Rs 1164 Cr, was booked by the sleuths of Anti Corruption Bureau under disproportionate assets case.

A reliable source told NewsMeter that Uma Maheshwar Rao was very ‘friendly’ with the accused of Sahithi Infra fraudsters. ‘Usually, sleuths of anti-crime investigating agencies act sternly on grave crimes, however, Umamaheshwar Rao was very ‘friendly’ with the accused. ACB sleuths raided his house, and officials simultaneously raided properties at 13 places (Hyderabad & Visakhapatnam) and seized houses, valuable lands, jewelry, and vehicles worth around 3.5 crores (book value). While the government value of around 3.5 Cr, its Market value stands at Rs 40 crore, sources said. After the arrest of ACP Uma Maheshwar Rao, the victims of Sahithi infra fraud staged a protest in front of the Central Crime Station office.

Currently, IPS officer Swetha Reddy, who is the Deputy Commissioner of Police - Detective Department is overseeing the cases that are meant to be reviewed by the Joint Commissioner of Police, crimes.

Legal Metrology- a department that checks weights and measures is crying for attention. In the absence of a strict officer many petrol bunks are going unchecked for violations. No crackdown on Supermarkets and General stores for measure violations. Recently a video from Telangana went viral where a petrol bunk staff thought he switched on the fuel dispensing unit, in really no fuel was dispensed out indicating how bunks might be using chips embedded in the dispensing unit to cheat customers.

Another post lying vacant is the Joint Commissioner of Police, the Special branch that operates, and executive certain tasks within the law and order department. “ Not having a boss will result in poor coordination with other departments and execution of decisions on the ground. Not just the Hyderabad Law and Order but, at the state level as well many seats are lying vacant. For instance, there is no Inspector General in Zone 1 ( covering Karimnagar, Warangal, and Ramagundem) in North Telangana. In Zone 2 barring Mahabub Nagar, no IG for Charminar, Nalgonda. It is to be noted that after the bifurcation of the state, the count of officers was trimmed to half as the manpower was divided between the two states. Now if you look at the senior level as well, many officers will be retiring in the coming year, so there will be a dearth of seniors to handle crucial departments’ a top officer told NewsMeter.

Senior IPS officer Sandeep Sandilya who is currently heading the Telangana Anti-Narcotics department will be retiring in May 2024. He is followed by IPS A R Srinivas.

In 2025, the current Hyderabad Commissioner of Police K Srinivas Reddy, and IG Vishwa Prasad are said to retire. The current Director General of Police Ravi Gupta and IPS officer Kamalasan Reddy will hang their boots around the same time.

However, on the contrary end, three departments that are winning the praise of the public are the Drug Control Authority headed by Kamalasan Reddy, the Anti Corruption Bureau- headed by DG C V Anand and State Food Safety by IAS R V Karnan, thanks to the officers for giving violators a run for their money.

Sources have also disclosed that, post General election results, there will be multiple rounds of transfers within the IPS and IAS circuits. There would be a change of guard even in plum posts now headed by top cops.