CONDEMNATION: Sukhbir decries lathicharge on innocent students in Delhi

Amritsar, December 22, 2012: Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab today said that tackling ‘law and order’ seems to be the last item on the agenda of Congress led UPA Government as evident from total breakdown of law and order machinery in National Capital of New Delhi.

Presiding over the concluding day of 1st All India Commissioners of Police Conference here today the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, who is also Home Minister of the state, said that Union Home Ministry has earmarked only Rs. 1,000 crore budget for modernisation of police force of 28 states and 7 Union Territories and was keeping its eyes shut to increasing threats of terrorism, naxalism and criminals using cyber techniques to attack the unity and integrity of the country. He said that to tackle crime police force has to move two steps ahead of criminal’s mind but instead of taking preventing actions, Union Home Ministry believes in beating around the bush after the criminals have struck. He said that it was unfortunate that Union Home Ministry failed to read the signs of unrest amongst a section of public that was exploited by naxal elements and now after its spread to 9 states and 260 districts, we are planning still on drawing board to tackle naxalism.

Regretting total breakdown of Law and Order situation in National Capital of New Delhi, Badal said that rape of 23 years old girl in a moving bus in the posh area of New Delhi, reflected that beat system and PCR system of police in New Delhi has gone for a toss and simmering anger against police apathy and inefficiency has erupted on the roads of New Delhi. He decried the lathicharge, teargas on innocent students, who were registering their protest at Raisina Hill, India Gate and Janpath today. He said that instead of handling this problem sensitively and effectively, brutal crushing the peaceful protest was reminder of strong arm tactics of British Raj days.

Showcasing the futuristic plans for Punjab Police, Badal said that 4 years ago when he became Home Minister, he had drawn up a blue print to make Punjab Police most professional force in the world by building their capacity, technically, professionally and also by equipping the force with most professional weaponry. He said that for tackling crime today we would have to use latest technology, make Punjab Police unobtrusive, and change the image of Police to a friendly but effectively police force. He said that he has sanctioned a budget of Rs. 100 crore for modernization of Punjab Police as modernization grant from Union Home Ministry was just peanuts. He said that he has ordered intensive coverage of all national and state highways including main roads with ‘Speed Radars’ coupled with CCTV Cameras that would capture the over-speeding vehicles automatically and that data would be automatically transferred to the centralise server of  Transport Department and a challan would automatically reach at the residence motor vehicle owner. He has given a time limit of 6 months to complete this project. He said that automatic challaning, outsourcing of challan money collection would reduce the interface of traffic police with the general public and also reduce the complaints of harassments.

Badal said that he was worried about increasing accidents those were mainly because of over-speeding, drunken driving and faults in the road engineering. He said that Punjab Police has already launched a campaign against drunken drive and on third challan, the license would be automatically cancelled and Public Works Department has been given target to complete the linking of all cities with 4/6 lane road network in next two years.

Vowing to make Punjab Police a most professional force in the world, Badal said that besides the recruitment of 20,000 police force including 2902 women constables, completion of 275 SAANJH Kendras and likely completion of 363 more SAANJH Kendras in next two years, launching of Rapid Rural Response system, covering of all cities with CCTV cameras, computer training to all new recruits, introduction of e-challaning and e-payment and facility of registering FIRs through internet and most importantly making Punjab Police people friendly would make our force most professional force in the world. He said that by separating Law and Order and Investigation wings, we would be able to train our investigation wing officers with scientific techniques thereby improving the conviction rate.

Answering a query regarding law and order debate in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Badal said that he respects Sunil Kumar Jakhar as a seasoned and well read parliamentarian but after listening to his list less debate where he was beating around the bush only on two unfortunate incidents without coming out with even a single incident, he felt that Jakhar was also adopting the old strategy of Congress Party of repeating the half truths without any substance.

On being asked about the crime rate in Punjab, Badal expressed satisfaction over the fact that Punjab has been declared the safest state in the country by the Union Government. He said that as far as the rate of criminality was concerned, Punjab was ranking 25th in the comparative record of 28 states as far incident rate of cognizable crime was concerned. He said that Congress Party never wanted to face this data and has run away from Assembly to face the embarrassing truth. He said that according to the comparison conducted by NCRB the crime rate in Punjab registered a negative growth of -4.8% from 2007 to 2011, while as per ranking of 88 cities done by NCRB, Amritsar registered a decrease of minus 1.4% crime rate from 2007 to 2011 and Ludhiana during our tenure registered a decreased of -20.7%. He said that as far as Crime against Women was concerned, Punjab ranked at 19^th number.  

Earlier Badal also released the souvenir of 1st All India Police Commissionerates Conference. He also extended thanks to the Bureau of Police Research and Development for hosting first ever Police Commissioners Conference in Punjab besides inviting the BPRD to host the same event every year in Punjab. He also presented token of honour to all the delegates participating the conference. DGP BPRD K.N. Sharma and Sumedh Singh, DGP Punjab and Chairman Organising Committee also presented memento the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.