PATNA: Amidst the opposition BJP’s allegation about increase in incidents of crime, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting with state’s top police officials and reviewed the law and order scenario across the state. He also issued necessary instructions to the police and administrative officers.
While addressing the top officers, Nitish said maintaining law and order is top priority of his government and he would not tolerate any kind of laxity in control of crimes.
To counter the misinformation campaign launched by certain opposition leaders about alleged rise in the crime rate in the state after change of the government last month, Nitish asked the DGP (HQ) Jitendra Singh Gangwar to hold press briefing every day to inform media about the actions taken by the police in serious criminal cases. He also asked the police to use different platforms of social media to disseminate correct information about the police actions among the common people.
Stating that more than 60% cases of murders in the state take place mainly due to land-related disputes, Nitish asked the police and civil officers to ensure “quick disposal” of land disputes. He also called for expediting the works of land survey and settlement so that there should be a decline in the cases of land related crimes.
While discussing the issues related to land disputes, Nitish said, “The DM and the SP must hold a joint meeting once in a month to solve land-related disputes in their jurisdictions. Similarly, the Sub divisional officer (SDO) and the sub divisional police officer (SDPO) will hold a similar joint meeting at the sub-division level once in a fortnight while the circle office and the station house officer once in a week.”
The CM further asked the police officers to work fast to increase the “number of sanctioned posts” of police personnel over the population of every 1 lakh as per the national standard.
“Fresh recruitment of over 2 lakh police personnel would be required in the Bihar police to achieve the national standard of police-population ratio,” a home department official told TOI on Saturday.
Earlier, the DGP (HQ) Gangwar informed the CM at the meeting that after the increase in the number of sanctioned posts in the state police, the number of police personnel over the population of every 1 lakh in Bihar would be increased nearer to 192, while the national standard is 193.95.
While reviewing the status of facilities at police stations, the CM asked the top officers to ensure that the landline phones remain functional at every police station across the state. Bihar has a total of 853 police stations. “The police headquarters should monitor on a regular basis to ensure proper functioning of the landline phones at the police stations,” Nitish said.
He further asked the senior police officers to accelerate the ‘speed of investigation’ in incidents of crimes and complete the investigation on time to facilitate necessary actions against the involved persons.
Nitish also ordered for strengthening the system of night patrolling in all districts. He asked senior police officers to ensure regular checking of the night patrolling and foot patrolling by junior officers and constables.
The CM also called for speedy trials in the cases of serious crimes.
Earlier, the DGP S K Singhal informed the CM about the works being done by police to control crimes.
