Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Tuesday that "something" had gone wrong at the ground level that needs to be rectified and asked the police to pull up their socks and enforce law and order.

"If the district superintendent of police (SP) is alert, everything will be right at the ground level," he said after inaugurating 174 new police buildings, some at 56 police stations, from Patna. He also laid the foundation stone for 23 more buildings to be built by the Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation.

He said Bihar was recognised for the rule of law. "There will be no compromise on this account," Nitish said. "When I came to power, policemen were having age-old 303 rifles while criminals had sophisticated weapons. Many police stations did not have jeeps or had old jeeps. Today you have modern arms and SUVs. The government has done its job. Now you do yours. The fear of law must prevail. People must realise they will be caught if they do anything wrong."

The Opposition, namely the RJD, has repeatedly questioned the law and order situation in the state. This was the first time Nitish, too, admitted "something" was wrong. He stuck to his stand that action against the liquor and sand mafia would continue. "IG (prohibitions) in the CID will look into liquor ban violations and even take over cases if he felt the police were not pursuing it properly.

In his speech, Nitish declared that the police headquarters coming up at Bailey Road will be an iconic building like the Bihar Museum. "I remember I had requested members of the 13th finance commission for a police academy in Bihar as the state did not have any after bifurcation. The finance commission allotted Rs 206 crore for the same. It is being built in Rajgir. The police academy is one of my dream projects. It will be so iconic that guest lecturers want to come here again," he said. Principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani, DGP P K Thakur and others were there at the event.