Surat: Among the four metro cities of Gujarat the diamond city Surat (population more than 10 lakh) is the safest city according to the figures of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) for year 2012. Although world’s fastest growing city of Surat has witnessed a consecutive rise in the number of crimes in the last two years, its crime rate is lowest as compared Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot.
Even among the top 50 cities with a population of more than 10 lakh in India, Surat is ranked 43rd according to the figures of NCRB. Vadodara is ranked 18, Ahmedabad 21 and Rajkot 27 in the country.
The crime rate is derived by comparing the number of cognizable crimes with the total population of the city. Interestingly, metro cities like Mumbai and Kolkata have performed better than Surat. Mumbai is ranked 48, with a crime rate of 165.7 and Kolkata 46 with its rate of 179.8.
Police officials said that the crime rate is an important indicator for analyzing the law and order scenario, particularly for a city like Surat, which is the eighth most populated with 45.85 lakh (mid 2012 census estimate) people residing here.
Surat police said that the city has witnessed 62% growth in population in the last decade. Among its residents, 47% are from other parts of Gujarat and an equal number from other parts of the country. The city has only 6% local population.
During 2012, Surat police took preventive actions against 63,333 people. The figure in Ahmedabad was 34,326, Vadodara 18,521 and Rajkot 9,542.