Advanced Training School building in Patna. Telegraph picture

The government has released Rs 20 lakh to lay the ground for a state-of-the-art building that would house all wings of the police department.

A home department officer said the police headquarters is set to invite tender for the appointment of an architect to prepare the design of the eco-friendly four-storey building. Sources said Rs 56.26 crore has been earmarked for the project.

The new building, spread over about 6.07 acres of land beside Bailey Road (in front of Golf Club), will have all offices of the police department as well as the forensic sciences laboratory, a police museum, a conference hall, an indoor firing range and a separate unit of the state disaster response force. The sources added that there would be a provision of a helipad on the police headquarters to ensure that any major police operation could be planned and executed from the building itself.

The home department officer said the government sanctioned Rs 20 lakh to the police headquarters on March 19. “The proposal was approved on November 8, 2011, by the building construction department at an estimated cost of Rs 56.26 crore,” he added.

Director-general of police (DGP) Abhayanand has sent a letter to the government, requesting it to engage an agency of repute because the project cost was above Rs 50 crore. “The idea is to maintain the quality of work and match international standards,” the letter stated. The project is expected to be completed within three years.

“The new police headquarters will be equipped with all facilities required for the police force. “It will be a green building with ultra-modern facilities,” Abhayanand said, adding that work on the project would start soon. The DGP also said: “The building, the first-of-its-kind, will not only be quake proof but also environment friendly. As all the wings of the police department will be under one roof, it will increase the efficiency of the officers,” he added.

The Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation has, however, not received any information about the construction of the building. Director general-cum chairman of the Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation Ashok Kumar Gupta told The Telegraph: “We are yet to get any information. But it is up to the police headquarters to decide which agency should be assigned the task of constructing the building.”

The corporation has already been asked to construct the proposed police academy at Rajgir in Nalanda.

The police headquarters had earlier submitted the proposal to the home department on November 4, 2011, estimating the preliminary cost of the new building at Rs 53 crore. However, the cost of infrastructure facilities was not mentioned in the preliminary estimate. According to the proposal, the building would be spread over 2,45,000sqft and would be completed within three years. The new police office would have a sprawling campus with a total of 3,00,926 sqft of land. It will have a total of 2,45,000sqft of built-up area and about 60,500sqft of ground area. The headquarters has also proposed construction of a separate building for the police museum and an auditorium that can accommodate 250 people. Besides, there will be a conference hall with seating arrangements for 100 people. Plans are also afoot to set up residential quarters of senior police officers on the campus to ensure that they can be summoned to their respective offices in case of emergencies.

The building would also accommodate offices of the central forensic sciences laboratory and the economic offences wing and senior officers of the Government Railway Police, Bihar Military Police and state home guards. Their offices are at present located at different places in the city.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had visited the proposed construction site on October 3, 2011.