Commissionerate of Police may alleviate law and order problems in Berhampur

The proposal to create a police commissionerate at Berhampur is hoped to solve the problem of dearth of adequate police staff for this crime-prone area. It may be noted that a few days ago Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had declared that the State government had decided to create three police commissionerates -- in Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela. But no gazette notification for the purpose has been made. It is hoped that the new government formed after the elections would implement this proposal. At present, Odisha has only one commissionerate of police which has Bhubaneswar and Cuttack under its jurisdiction.

As per the detailed proposal regarding this proposal of commissionerate police system for Berhampur, it would have 1,796 posts for police personnel. It means it would need creation of 733 new posts for police personnel for the proposed commissionerate of police for Berhampur.

During an informal chat, city Superintendent of Police (SP) Aniruddha Singh said it would surely enhance policing as the staff would be properly divided and deployed for different jobs. In place of single SP heading the Berhampur police district, there would be two DCPs of SP rank who would be headed by a commissioner of DIG or IG rank. The DCP for the headquarters would deal with different official works like granting of licences, intelligence gathering, issues related to human rights, accounts etc while the other DCP would be totally involved in policing.

The extra staff needed when the city has a police commissionerate will include one more official of SP rank, two of additional SP rank, three of DSP rank, 12 more inspectors, 70 sub-inspectors, 120 Assistant sub-inspectors, 91 constables etc. There would be need for more than 50 new ministerial staff to relieve pressure on police officials related to office work so that there would be more time for policing.

Three police stations which are now under Berhampur police district like those at Jarada, Digapahandi and K.Nuagaon would be under Ganjam police district after this transformation. The Chamakhandi and Arjyapalli marine police stations which are now under Ganjam police district, would come under Berhampur police commissionerate.

Long-pending demand

It may be noted that since long there was demand for creation of a police commssionerate in Berhampur. Several organisations of the city as well as South Odisha Students Association (SOSA) had made this demand. “Although a woman like me does know the intricacies that this change would bring in, we hope it would enhance policing in the city and reduce menace of criminals,” said Pranita Das, a housewife of the city. Former secretary of Berhampur Bar Association, Manoj Patnaik is of the opinion that commissionerate for Berhampur should not become only a change for name sake. It should bring in real changes in policing which will benefit the general public, he added.  Source: The Hindu