Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar asserted on Sunday that the state government was paying attention to the needs of the police and has initiated several projects to fulfil them.
"We are taking several steps to provide various facilities to the police. These include construction of state-of-the art police lines and police station buildings, better vehicles and weapons, as well as expediting appointments to the force," Nitish said.
Nitish pointed out that Bihar was the first state to provide 35 per cent reservation for women in the police and said he "feels proud to see women police personnel present at the guard of honour given to him during the visits to other districts".
He also said that mounted police have a role in law and order, as well as crowd control, but their role has become limited in the present times.
"Still, we will maintain the mounted police. The Bihar police have 101 horses, including new horses of better breed that were bought recently. They have been trained and well maintained and for that the officials concerned must be congratulated," Nitish said.
The chief minister was speaking as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the 36th All India Police Equestrian Championship and Mounted Police Duty Meet-2017 organised in the state capital. The All India Police Control Board had entrusted the responsibility to Bihar.
Advocate general Lalit Kishor, director-general of police Pramod Kumar Thakur, home department principal secretary Amir Subhani, director-general (DG) (fire services) P.N. Rai, DG (civil defence) Ravinder Kumar and DG-cum-Bihar Police Housing Corporation chairman Sunil Kumar were present at the closing ceremony.
The event was inaugurated on December 29 by governor Satya Pal Malik, and 17 teams, 571 participants with 274 horses of various breeds participated in 31 different competitive segments.
Inspector Sumer Singh and Chakori of the Border Security Force (BSF) won the awards for the best horse rider and the best horse, respectively, at the 10-day competition.
The team from BSF clinched the title of the Champion Team of "mounted duty meet" while Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy was declared the overall champion team with BSF finishing the runner-up.
