Mysuru: Forty-eight-year-old B Dayanand is the city’s new police commissioner. A 1994-batch officer, he assumed charge on Wednesday. Dayananda was till now the Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic) in Bengaluru.
Dayananda’s predecessor, Dr M A Saleem has been transferred to Bengaluru as the Additional Police Commissioner (traffic). The new police commissioner does not believe in succumbing to political pressure. “So far, political pressure has not influenced me. I have no problem in handling it too as I will go by the law of the land,” he said.
Thanking the government for giving him a chance to serve in the heritage city, Dayananda said that he would analyse the ground realities and come up with ideas. “So far, traffic was my forte. Now I will have to oversee traffic and law and order. I will take the entire team forward,” he said.
“Mysuru police is already active on the social media platform and I will take it a step further,” he added.
When reporters queried about certain high-profile cases in Mysuru, including the Vasumathi murder case and the rape case filed against a city doctor, Dayananda said that he had read about the incidents and would be able to comment or take action after studying them in detail.
Social Media savvy
Dayananda was instrumental in making Bengaluru police social media-savvy and ntroducing participatory policing. Thanks to a number of initiatives taken by him, the Bengaluru police now actively use social media platforms to engage with people and also deal with issues ranging from traffic problems to public nuisance on the streets being flagged on a daily basis.
Fitness freak
A fitness freak, Dayanand regularly attends the gym for workouts and has been featured on many fitness shows broadcast by TV channels. As the additional commissioner of traffic, Dayananda has launched several people-friendly initiatives. Prominent among them is Traffic Police Care where the traffic police connect with the society. The initiative rewards those traffic cops who make a difference in the society while performing their regular duties.
Rules are for all
A task master, Dayananda, as the Bengaluru traffic chief, had warned his own staff for not following rules. In a circular addressed to all senior police officers, DCPs of all divisions and the city police commissioner’s office, Dayanand had said that rules are meant for all, and must be followed by police too.
He also served notices on IPS and other government officers for using tinted glass in their vehicles and had ordered them to remove the tint as per law.
Vital Statistics:
B Dayananda holds a BA in Public Administration and made this world a better place when he arrived on 19/3/1967. He belongs to the 1994 batch and is part of the Karnataka Cadre, taking up his first appointment in September 1995. His previous stints as a police officer include Assistant Superintendent of Police, Puttur sub-division, Superintendent of Police, Vijayapura, Belgaum, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada and Kolar districts.
Many Awards and Commendations:
He has received the Commendation Roll from the Director General of Police Border Security Force for the specific field/operational role performed in the anti-insurgency operations at Jammu and Kashmir while under training (1997), and the Chief Minister’s Gold Medal for the year 1998 from the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the outstanding performance as Sub Divisional Police Officer. He is also the proud recipient of the United Nations Medal for World Peace Keeping for the service rendered as Civilian Police Officer at Kosovo during 2003-2004 and many other awards which include e-Gov Award for Innovation, 2006 by the e-gov magazine in recognition for the creation of one of the first ever police blogs on the internet for dissemination of police news. He is also the recipient of the Presidents Police Medal for Meritorious Service on the occasion of the Republic Day — 2011.
