Reach out to people in more professional ways: Mehbooba to Police

CM chairs meeting of District SPs, range DIGs of Jammu province

‘Deal strongly with drug abuse, even use PSA against chronic peddlers’

JAMMU, SEPTEMBER 22: Expressing zero tolerance towards corruption in public service delivery, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today asked the Police to reach out to people in a more professional way to redress their grievances and problems, particularly in far flung and hilly areas.

Chairing a meeting with all the District Superintendents of Police and range DIGs of Jammu province here, the Chief Minister asked the Police officers to adopt professional approaches of community and social policing to provide relief to the people from the situations of distress and difficulty. She asked the District SPs to ensure that the officers and constabulary in their jurisdictions perform their duty with utmost dedication. She asked them to take any genuine complaint of corruption against any of them with all seriousness.

The Chief Minister directed the District SPs to make sure that no individual, community or group of people is harassed unnecessarily during any investigation or performance of routine law and order duties, particularly in the cases of Bovine smuggling or cow vigilantism. She said by adopting compassion with honesty coupled with dedicated service, Police would not only be winning over people at large but also earning the force much more respect.

Terming the drug addiction a challenge to the society, the Chief Minister directed the Police to deal strongly in wiping out the menace of drug abuse and its transportation in the province. She even suggested slapping Public Safety Act against chronic drug peddlers. She also suggested setting up of de addiction centres for the rehabilitation of affected youth.

Mehbooba Mufti specifically sought feedback on drug abuse in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu and other districts where the prevalence of the menace has been reported considerably. She directed constitution of specialised teams in every district to track down the menace.

The Chief Minister directed the District SPs to visit periodically the distant and far off areas of their districts to get a feel of the needs and difficulties of people. She also directed them to keep liaison with the community leaders in sensitive areas for maintaining peace. She specifically directed the District SPs of Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Ramban and Doda to ensure smooth traffic movement on the National Highways and be available to stranded passengers in case of accidents and exigencies.

Mehbooba Mufti also directed continued vigil on vital installations like tunnels, religious places and communally sensitive locations. She expressed concern over the rising crimes against women and sought a detailed feedback from the District SPs about the functioning of women police stations set up at various places last year in the province. She directed the District SPs to act tough against the people found involved in cases of eve teasing, domestic violence, rape, and other crimes against women and bring them to justice at the earliest.

The Chief Minister asked the District SPs to make the Grievance Cells at their offices more vibrant and pursue the probes in cases of public interest with speed till the closure of the cases.

Mehbooba Mufti also asked the DGP to furnish at the earliest the details of pending cases of wards of policemen who were martyred in action and in whose favour compassionate help or assistance could be extended.

In his address, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh while appreciating the role of the Police force asked the District SPs to keep strict vigil on the situation. He also laid stress on close coordination with other security agencies within their jurisdictions.

Earlier, Director General of Police, Dr S P Vaid briefed the Chief Minister about the situation in the border areas, law & order, crime and drug abuse situations in the Jammu province. He said during the eight months of this year Police, on the directions of the Chief Minister, has confiscated 40 kgs of heroine, 580 kgs of charas, 142 kgs of ganja and 60 thousand capsules of different kinds from various areas of the province.

Issues like setting up of Forensic labs at range levels, demand of bunkers in border areas, manpower shortage in newly carved districts, auction of condemned vehicles, need for amendment in traffic rules and enhancing penalties, improving the criminal justice system and use of video conferencing for recording statements of jail inmates also came up for discussion in the meeting. 

Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rohit Kansal; Inspector General of Police, Jammu zone, SDS Jamwal; Inspector General of Police, CID, Abdul Ghani Mir; range DIGs and all the District Superintendents of Police of Jammu province were present in the meeting.