Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a restructuring of the Police Welfare Board to deal with the grievances of police personnel more efficiently.

“There is a welfare board, but we are restructuring it so that police personnel can get problems addressed properly,” Mamata told the media at Nabanna on Monday. “The welfare board will address problems of Bengal police and Calcutta police. SPs will keep a close liaison with the board in districts.”

The chief minister said that those who were criticising the state police should look into states like UP, Bihar, MP and Delhi and they would be able to see the difference.

“Bengal’s police is one of the best... Calcutta Police is working better than the Scotland Yard,” she said.

Mamata said both the Bengal police and Calcutta police worked really hard during the pandemic as they stayed on the roads to battle the spread of the disease.

“They have worked overtime, they managed traffic, they helped the affected and even arranged food for them... Several policemen were inflicted and 18 of them died as they worked by risking their lives. Now we have some responsibilities towards them and their families. We will observe September 1 as Police Day,” said the chief minister.

Nabanna sources said that discontent among policemen was rising amid the pandemic and Mamata stepped in to ensure that these did not foment trouble before Assembly polls.

“Most grievances are over Covid-related issues such as lack of testing among policemen, barracks without social distancing,” said a bureaucrat.

Commending the police for a great job during the pandemic and acknowledging that 18 police personnel died of Covid as they worked to contain the spread, Mamata said the state government would set up more barracks for police where social distancing would be kept in mind during construction.

Mamata also announced a cabinet decision to give female police personnel scope for promotions on a par with their male counterparts.

She also personally mentioned that some police personnel could genuinely need transfer because of a parent’s illness or a child’s education.

Sources said that the chief minister tried to pacify some police personnel who had raised voices against the system in the past few months.

“Policemen in the PTS and in some police stations in Calcutta had launched agitations demanding certain facilities. The chief minister has intervened on time before it (discontent) spreads further. The policemen also had grievances against the welfare board,” said an officer.

App for cops

Calcutta police has launched a mobile app called Niramoy for their personnel. Through the app, the health of those who report sick and are hospitalised or home quarantined will be monitored daily. This will help ensure timely intervention, police said.