Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has asked Bangalore police to start learning Urdu to understand how to be polite in speaking to the public.

Addressing a function to celebrate 50 years of Bangalore police and to mark the opening of a Rs 23-crore hi-tech traffic management centre in the city, he said buildings and equipment would amount to nothing if people did not feel secure.

"The police must learn to use the Urdu language to understand how to be polite. If they learn to use Urdu, they can win support of the people. You cannot use the same language with all people,'' Siddaramaiah said.

The Chief Minister asked the traffic police to curb speaking on phones while driving, jumping signals and other offences. "These are small issues but if small issues of law are addressed a lot of traffic problems can be solved. Even the educated take small liberties with traffic laws,'' he said.

Referring to the unplanned expansion of Bangalore, Siddaramaiah said: "Planned growth would not have caused these problems (of traffic jam).''

The Chief Minister said there was bound to be more crime as a city grows. "The police are doing a good job but they need to work harder. There is the recent ATM attack case, for example. The issue of security at ATMs should have been addressed before the attack,'' he said.

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