Karnataka government would instal CCTV cameras at strategic locations here and in other major cities of the State to help detect incidents of crime, Home Minister R Ashoka said on Thursday.

"The process is on to instal CCTV cameras in (different) circles of the city, as also in Mysore and Bellary. We will instal them in different places....smaller cities", he told the Assembly during question hour.

Responding to N L Narendra Babu (Congress) who slammed the government for failure to detect some cases of chain-snatching in his constitutency here, Ashoka acknowledged that the police force needs to be modernised, including induction of technology, adding, the government is at it.

Earlier only graduates used to join the police department but now post-graduates, doctors and engineers are opting to join the force in large numbers, the Minister said.

Meanwhile, Minister for Prisons, A Narayanaswamy, indicated that seven prisons in the State are over-crowded.

Replying to Dinesh Gundurao (Congress), he said, among others, the central prison here has 3972 prisoners as against its capacity to accommodate 2,100, and the Mysore central prison 999 prisoners as against its capacity for 506.

Necessary steps such as creating additional barracks/cells, shifting some prisoners and construction of new prisons are under the consideration of the government, Narayanaswamy said.