28 October,2011 07:17 AM IST | | Sheetal Sukhija
Police Commissioner B Jyotiprakash Mirji distributed sweet-boxes and firecrackers to scribes in the city.
However, what didn't go down too well with a small group of journalists, who believe in acting as Democracy's watchdog, is that Mirji overlooked all the efforts put in to bring about awareness by the State Government, the Pollution Control Board and the BBMP against bursting high-decibel crackers.
Police Commissioner Jyothiprakash Mirji lighting crackers at his office
during a safety and awareness programme on burning crackers just
before Diwali
"We have been reporting about how the BBMP and the Pollution Control Board has been educating people about going eco-friendly this Diwali.
However, when the police commissioner called the scribes and distributed sweets and a box of crackers that were above the decibel limit specified by the PCB it was indeed shameful," said a scribe from the city.
During the event, Mirji further went ahead light a few bombs right inside the office premises.
"The funds for the things he distributed came from the police department's secret fund. The commissioner is allotted Rs 5 crore each year to fund informers who tip them off about criminal acts.
The commissioner does not have to present any records of expenditure on this account to anyone," said a well-informed source within the commissioner's office.
While the scribes continued to discuss incident, Mirji chose not to answer. "Distributing sweets on happy occasions is not a bad thing.
u00a0
The commissioner offered Diwali sweets to scribes and he did not distribute crackers," said T Sunil Kumar, ACP (Law and Order), on the commissioner's behalf.
Rs 5 cr
The amount allotted to theu00a0 police annually to reward informers
