Govt order issued to introduce police commissionerate in Agra, Ghaziabad & Prayagraj
According to the notification, issued by principal secretary (home) Sanjay Prasad, police commissionerates will be introduced in the three cities with immediate effect.
Lucknow: A day after chief minister Yogi Adityanath-led state cabinet approved the introduction of police commissionerates in Agra, Ghaziabad, and Prayagraj, the Uttar Pradesh government issued an order to the effect on Saturday.
According to the notification, issued by principal secretary (home) Sanjay Prasad, police commissionerates will be introduced in the three cities with immediate effect. A senior home department official said all 44 police stations of Agra district, 23 police stations of Ghaziabad district, and 41 police stations of Prayagraj district will come under the jurisdiction of different police commissionerates.
The official further said that soon, the state government will post police commissioners of the rank of Inspector General (IG) or Additional Director General (ADG) in these three police commissionerates. The layout plan for the new police commissionerates is already prepared, the official added.
So far, the police commissionerate system is functional in seven districts of the state. It started in Lucknow and Gautam Buddh Nagar on January 13, 2020, in the first phase. Later, it expanded to Kanpur and Varanasi in the second phase on March 25, 2021. In the third phase, the system has now been introduced in Agra, Ghaziabad, and Prayagraj.
The police commissionerate system is implemented in districts with a population of 10 lakh (1 million) or more. The state government has decided to implement the police commissionerate system in these three districts as Agra is a key district in terms of tourism, industries, and law and order, Ghaziabad has many industries, and Prayagraj has cultural and religious significance. Prayagraj is also set to host the Mahakumbh in 2025.
Police officials have said that the commissionerate system has been effective in controlling crime and handling new-generation crimes like fake call centres, cybercrimes, drug menace, and other online crimes. They said that the system is also effective in crowd control, curbing incidents of damage to public property, and improving the traffic system.