Bhubaneswar, Jan. 27: Newly appointed police commissioner Y.B Khurania today said he would constitute special squads to tackle crime in the twin cities.
The 1990-batch officer, who took charge today, emphasised the role of special teams to tackle rising crime, violence against woman, traffic and cyber-related offences.
However, the major challenge for the new commissioner would be crime control. The cops are yet to crack the incident of cash loot of Rs 15 lakh from the manager of a real estate firm in Lakshmi Sagar in November and another Rs 15-lakh loot from a private collection agent near Big Bazar in Patia in September.
"The police department is facing a manpower crunch. It could be solved following discussions with the police headquarters and the state government," said Khurania.
Besides crime control, accidents on the national highways passing through the city remain a major concern for city police. According to official statistics, in 2015, as many as 95 people died in 226 accidents and the year before, 80 died in 200 accidents. Besides, the number of mishaps in the city, too, including those on highways, has gone up to 600 in 2015 as compared to 516 in 2014.
"The police will identify the accident-prone areas in the city and precautions will be taken in consultation with experts," said Khurania.
He also stressed on traffic regulation in the city. He said that his department would talk to the agencies concerned so that all problems related to parking could be solved.
Moreover, in an attempt to improve public-police relationship, Khurania said that importance would be given to make the police more people friendly. "A senior police officer would be deployed at the headquarters who would listen to the grievances of the public everyday between 4pm and 5pm. Residents are welcome to come to the office and lodge their complaints," said Khurania who became the fifth police commissioner of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
Besides, Khurania also spoke about preparing a vision document 2020 and his plan to modernise the force in the twin cities.
In another development, Rajendra Prasad Sharma, former police commissioner of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, today took charge as the new vigilance director. He said that his top priority would be to make the department more efficient, transparent and people friendly.
The 1986-batch senior IPS officer was given a guard of honour at the vigilance directorate here today.
Sharma was promoted to the rank of director general of police earlier last week.
"I will focus on strengthening the anti-corruption wing with active support from the public and will also stress on quality of investigation and early disposal of cases to improve the conviction rate," said Sharma.
Sharma said that steps would be taken for preventive vigilance to create more awareness and eliminate the loopholes in welfare schemes to put a check on corruption.
