Mangaluru : Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy laid the foundation for the police quarters to be constructed at Shakthinagara in Mangaluru. The quarters will be built at a cost of Rs 6.90 crore.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Reddy said that once complete, the quarters will provide housing facilities for 24 police constables and eight PSIs.

A total 11,000 police quarters, largely for the police constabulary and sub-inspectors, will be constructed under Police Vasathi Gruha 2020, a programme to provide housing quarters to all police personnel by 2020.

Already, more than 2,500 quarters have been completed. The work on 4,500 quarters are nearing completion and work on another 4500 quarters will be taken up during the year, he said.

“As many as 160 quarters have been sanctioned for Mangaluru city and the work is in progress. Along with the construction of new quarters, funds will be earmarked for the repair of quarters in the budget.

The work on the quarters will be completed in the next 16 months,” he said.

He said that 28,000 police personnel have been recruited in the state.

The post of 1,642 PSIs have been filled. Permissions have been granted for filling 18,000 posts in the department.

Priority will be given for recruitment in Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Belagavi, he added.

MLA J R Lobo, Mayor Kavitha Sanil and others were present.