Efforts will be made to bring U’khand Police among top 5 in India: Abhinav Kumar

PRIORITIES:
DGP Abhinav Kumar, in his address to the media, listed the priorities set by Uttarakhand Police for 2024. He reminded that Uttarakhand Police had a good track record in solving crime, in ensuring law & order during VVIP visits and during the three G-20 events and the Global Investors’ Summit held in 2023. It also had a good record in solving crime and taking tough action against the land mafia. He added that, in the current year, the State Police would make sincere efforts in improving the performance even further. This would be achieved through greater emphasis on incorporating new technology and on training of personnel. He claimed that, in the coming year, Uttarakhand Police would make sincere efforts to further improve performance in all the parameters of the Union Government and BPR&D. All efforts would be made to get the Uttarakhand Police included in top 5 police forces in the country. He said that, as has been the vision of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, all out efforts would also be made to make Uttarakhand a drug free state by 2025.

CHALLENGES:

Speaking about the challenges for the state police in the new year, he said that some challenges happen every year and the State Police would sincerely continue to meet them, such as managing the Char Dham Yatra during summer months and the annual Kanwar Yatra. He also listed traffic management as a major challenge, which will only grow bigger. He observed that Dehradun has a very high number of vehicles and the state also witnesses a large number of road accidents not only in Dehradun but also in the hills. Besides, an estimated population of around 1.25 crores, Uttarakhand also regularly hosts a floating population five to six times its resident population and, under these circumstances, better traffic management becomes a top challenge and priority. All efforts will be made to reduce the road accidents in the state, he claimed.
Abhinav Kumar also listed increasing cyber crime as a major challenge, as also ensuring fair and peaceful Lok Sabha Elections this year, and hosting the national games. He expressed confidence that these challenges would be met effectively by the state police.
The DGP added that the SDRF would be further strengthened in view of the possibility of natural disasters. Efforts will be made to set up one SDRF battalion in Kumaon also. He also said that, although government recruitments take time, efforts will be made to ensure recruitment to the vacancies in a timely and transparent manner at all levels and also to ensure timely promotions in the state police so that the morale of the force remains high at all levels.

Kumar also stated that the IPC and CrPC will be replaced by the new laws passed in the Parliament and, for this, training of the personnel and the prosecutors would be ensured. In response to a related question, Kumar asserted that passing of the new laws in the parliament is only a beginning and it will be a long process to replace the existing laws with new ones. He admitted that this will also be a major challenge. He added that training modules will be prepared and training given to all the investigators regarding the Indian Judicial Code, Indian Civil Defence Code and Indian Evidence Act.

Kumar also asserted that it is not justified to claim that Uttarakhand Police had acted under pressure in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The Police investigation has been conducted in a neutral and sincere manner led by DIG P Renuka.

LAST YEAR WORKS:
ADG, Administration, Amit Sinha also mentioned in detail the works done last year towards meeting the administrative and infrastructure requirements and modernisation of the Uttarakhand Police. He stated that steps have been taken also to ensure welfare of the Police personnel and their families. In the current financial year, a total amount of Rs 18.50 lakh has been sanctioned to 251 meritorious children of police personnel and, at present, the process of sanctioning scholarship to 367 meritorious children is in progress. He added that the Police personnel have been insured for accidents with the State Bank of India.
Sinha added that a capital outlay of Rs 57 crores has been made in the FY 2023-24 besides the revenue expenditure of Rs 2469 crores in the department. In the year 2023, appointments were made on a total of 1585 posts in the department, while 1201 police personnel were promoted. He added that, for the modernisation of the state police, Smart and Intelligent Command and Control Centres have been established in Nainital, Pauri Garhwal and Tehri Garhwal districts for an amount of Rs 4.30 crores.

CRIME FIGURE:
ADG, Crime and Law and Order, AP Anshuman asserted that effective action has been taken against organised criminals, land mafia and gangsters last year. A total of 16,549 cases were registered in the state under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the year 2022, while only 15,797 cases were registered in the year 2023, which was the effect of better crime control. He reminded that, as per NCRB Crime In India-2021, Uttarakhand state ranks first in recovery of looted/stolen property with 68.7 percent recovery, while the national average of property recovery is 30.20 percent. Anshuman added that as per the report, Uttarakhand ranks 8th among all states with a crime rate of 146.8 percent, while the national average is 258.8 percent. He reminded that, by taking prompt action in all the registered cases in the year 2023, more than 86 percent of the cases were solved and action was taken against more than 61 percent of the accused. In the year 2023, a total of 432 criminals including notorious criminals absconding in serious crimes were arrested and action taken under the Gangster Act against 288 criminals involved in organised and serious crimes.

IG, Police P&M, Nilesh Anand Bharne, Inspector General of Police Karan Singh Nagnyal, Inspector General of Police, Garhwal Zone, Anant Shankar Takwale, DIG P Renuka Devi were also present at the conference.