Mr. B V Ramana Kumar is a distinguished personality, who Served in Police department, Andhra Pradesh, for more than three decades as IPS Officer, retired as Inspector General of Police in the year of 2018. Later the Governor of A P appointed him as A P State Information Commissioner, which is a Quasi Judicial post, equalent to the Chief Secretary of the State. After completion of the tenure, this year he is invited by the GITAM University to take up role as Sr.Director of Vigilance & Security for all the campuses.

Mr. B V Ramana Kumar is an alumnus of Andhra University with a double Post Graduatiobn as M.Sc. Biosciences, M.A. Sociology with a Silver Line in Bachelor of Law and Diploma in Training of Trainers (TOT) in London, U.K.

In Police Service, he worked as S.P. Nellore, S.P. Guntur, S.P. Vigilance and Enforcement, Principal of Police Training College, Ongole, Vizianagaram, worked in C.I.D., State Intelligence, Central Intelligence, Chief Immigration Officer, First Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) of Hyderabad in combined A.P.State. He worked as Dy.Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad, Hyderabad, Addl.Commissioner of Police, Vijayawada, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kurnool Range, and as Inspector General of Police. He is an awardee of Indian Police Medal.

He worked as Chief Vigilance and Security Officer in Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam and detected sensational Gold Dollar scam and streamlined the system. As A P State Information Commissioner for 4 ½ years, he delivered about 4,700 judgements under R.T.I. Act. His commitment to public service and exemplary leadership have left an indelible mark in Law enforcement.

GITAM Visakhapatnam

You have served as an IPS Officer for more than three decades. What excited you to take up this role of Senior Director of Vigilance & Security in GITAM University.? 

When I worked in Police Department apart from maintaining Law & Oder, I developed interest to improve knowledge, skills, Attitudes of Police Force. If the Police, being law enforcement Authority have high qualities, they punish culprits and protect the innocents. Therefore I worked as principal in Ongole and Vizianagaram Police Training Colleges, where I trained thousands of boys and girls who get selected for Police Constables and Sub-Inspector of Police. With this position to empower the youth, I took up this role as Senior Director of Vigilance & Security in GITAM University. 

When we take care of youth and energise them, they become Nation Builders. During my police service, whenever I come across youth indulging in serious crime, while enforcing IPC, I used to take steps to reform them by conducting personality development training, stress free training and meditation classes with the help of Art of living teachers and Heart fullness trainers. When I got this offer of Senior Director, Vigilance Security, I took it as opportunity to reform the students to discipline them, to prevent them from falling into bad habits, thereby the students build up their career and contribute to Nation. 

How do you leverage and implement the use of Technology for security purpose inside the campus.? 

In many Universities including GITAM the Safety and Security of Students, Teaching and non-teaching staff and that of GITAM property is in the hands of private security agencies. They deploy security guards at various places and doing their duties. There are C C Cameras all over the campuses, Hostels, Academic blocks etc. There is no surveillance and preventive mechanism by using C C Cameras and using Technology. Now I have taken up C C Cameras monitoring system. Introduced e-gate pass system, e-key management system, use of visitor management software etc.

Can you describe to us what is the challenging part of the Senior Director, Security & Vigilance role and how you handle them? 

We have classified the offenses into various types being committed by the students. Damaging the property of the institution. Damaging the property of other students.Then, assaults and attacks or protests/rallies. Students indulge in ragging, sexual abuse, and misbehaving. There will be instances where students indulge in using Narcotics and other prohibited substances. Then there is Cyber Crime. This way, I have classified those offences into various categories and formed the norms/rules and actions to be taken carefully for each category. 

We make sure safety is also followed on campus, For instance creating sound pollution, triple riding, rash driving that leads to accidents. We make sure that students will act responsibly and be safe outside the campus as well. All of the above are classified into cognizable and in non-cognizable offences. smoking and drinking, and Causing harm to others come under non-cognizable offences but indulging in narcotics is serious crime. So right now we are working on clearly making a strict procedure for all different types of offences. 

How do you ensure that campus policies and procedures related to safety, security, and emergency preparedness are effectively communicated, trained, and followed by all members of the campus community? 

Certain steps are being implemented already. There is a process that will be followed and a disciplinary committee will be formed. When a disciplinary committee is formed and everybody will have access to reach out to them. I have prepared a matrix that will be implemented soon and will become a uniform policy. Once it is a uniform policy, we will instruct the Disciplinary Committees to follow these rules and regulations. I have worked on this for months and formed this. Once it is finalized, we will go in a very systematic manner with a uniform policy.

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What are the initiatives you Implemented with respect to the security strategy, policies procedures for efficient security systems inside the campus? 

The Safety and Security Directorate was established in October 2021. It is in a very primitive stage and the private security agencies are handling this and they have no accountability, when students lost their Laptops, Cell phones and other valuables. I have hired more security personnel as a team. I have selected few retired police officers as security officers and recruited them GITAM on rolls. 

One retired Addl. S.P. is appointed to GIMSR and one retired DSP is appointed to Hyderabad Campus and few retired Sunb Inspectors are going to be appointed. These officers are professionals with vast experience and have been doing enquiries, investigations of cases and efficiency in crime detection and maintaining discipline in all the campuses. I am building a strong team of security officers. Introduced night patrolling by GITAM security officers and QRT with vehicle during peak hours when students enter the University in the morning and leave the campus in the evening. 

How well are you equipped with emergency infrastructure in case of any sudden accidents or misfortunes? 

We have appointed Fire Safety Officers in Bangalore, Visakhapatnam and GIMSR campuses. In Hyderabad campus, we will fill up the post of Fire Safety Officer, shortly. 

Fire Extinguishers are fixed in every floor as per norms and filling up periodically. Emergency infrastructures like fire hydrants, fire alarm in every building are equipped already. We are conducting mock drills, training class to security supervisors, security guards frequently. We are conducting awareness programs to the students and to non-teaching staff. Response time is minimized for quick action. 

What is your primary emphasis and vision for the coming years to improve the standards of security and vigilance inside the university campus? 

It is our responsibility to safeguard the students all the time, though we have strict rules for various types of offences. The safety and security of the students are our prime responsibility and we take all precautions for that. Through this, discipline will be maintained among the students and staff. There will be harmony on the campus. If there is harmony then there will be peace. When there is a peace. Gross Happiness Index can be increased among the students. The performance of students will be improved which will contribute to academic excellence. 

The parents should feel happy that their child is very safe here at GITAM. That is the atmosphere we wanted to create here. Through academic excellence, we can achieve the GITAM goal of climbing the ladder of the top 100 universities in the world by the year 2040. When that happens, we all will contribute to the knowledge economy. This is my broad vision. Being a retired IPS officer, I always have a national out look. The students should grow, and the institution will grow and we all should together build the Nation.