New Delhi

“Small incidents” of crime in Delhi grab headlines due to an active media presence although the crime rate is low in the national capital vis-a-vis the population here, Union Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary said today.

Contrary to the perception that crime has increased in the country, it is actually the registration of cases which has gone up since the Narendra Modi government came to power, the minister said.

“But since Delhi is the capital and media is very active here, small incidents get the headlines,” he said while inaugurating a police station in the high-security South Avenue area here.

He said that the number of criminal cases registered in Delhi — seen in the light of the large population residing here — was low while the city also had people coming in from NCR areas like Faridabad, Noida and Gurgaon on a regular basis.

Talking about the performance of the NDA government at the Centre, Chaudhary said that India’s stature has risen significantly on the global stage due to Modi’s foreign visits.

“In the past, when Indians used to visit US or Europe, nobody even looked at us. But after the PM’s visits to several nations across the globe and, especially, his speech in Hindi at the UN General Assembly, the world is witnessing India progress,” said Chaudhary.

He also hailed the designation by UN of an International Yoga Day and said that Indians will now get the opportunity to go and teach yoga abroad, thus generating potential employment.

The new police station on South Avenue will cover a high- security zone and have under its jurisdiction the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Vice-President’s house, Vigyan Bhavan, some vital installations, government offices and the residences of several Members of Parliament.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and police chief BS Bassi, too, attended the inauguration today.

“This area is like the heart of Delhi and we can’t allow any untoward incident to happen here,” said Jung.

Bassi said that “though the area of jurisdiction under the South Avenue police station is not very large, the magnitude of the problems here are not less than any other city area”.

“Though there are not too many inhabitants, around three to four lakh government officials work here at several important office,” he added.

PTI