Ghaziabad to start assessment for more police stations

The district is all set to have more police stations this year as the police commissionerate is likely to conduct an exercise to assess the number of new police stations required and also the bifurcation of existing police station areas

The district is all set to have more police stations this year as the police commissionerate is likely to conduct an exercise to assess the number of new police stations required and also the bifurcation of existing police station areas.

Ghaziabad, India - December 03, 2022: This is Sahibabad police station located in Ghaziabad, India on Saturday, December 03, 2022. (Photo by Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times)

Senior officers said that the district by the end of 2023 may have about 35-40 police stations.

Ghaziabad district at present has 23 police stations and an assessment is likely to start soon. In June last year, the police had sent a proposal for creation of five police stations at Wave City, Crossings Republik, DLF, Niti Khand and Shalimar Garden.

“In October (2022), we received a nod for two stations at Crossings Republik and Wave City, while plots have been identified for the other three. So, it is likely that by the end of January, we may have three more police stations,” said Ajay Kumar Mishra, the Ghaziabad commissioner of police.

The CP said that considering the population and mobility in the district, the existing police stations are not sufficient.

“We are planning to have more police stations and by the end of this month, we will undertake an exercise to find out how many more police stations that can be built. The process will take about six to seven months and by the end of the year, we may have about 35-40 police stations across Ghaziabad district,” CP Mishra said.

In an assessment carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Police in September 2015, Ghaziabad district needed nearly 66 police stations in accordance with prevailing norms.

According to the norms laid down by the UP Police Commission 1960-61, an urban centre should have a police station for a population of more than 50,000. For rural areas, a new police station is required for a population base of 75,000 to 90,000, within an area of 113 square miles.

In April 2017, a proposal was sent for 21 new police stations in Ghaziabad, including 13 in urban centres. The proposed stations in urban areas included ones at Kaushambi, Niti Khand (Indirapuram), Vasundhara, Surya Nagar, Shalimar Garden, Tila Morh, Raj Nagar Extension and Pratap Vihar, among others.

Of these, the city saw new police stations at Kaushambi and Tila Morh, while new stations also came up at Tronica City and Loni Border in Loni, Khoda Colony, Madhuban Bapudham, Nandgram and more recently at Wave City and Crossings Republik.

The new police commissionerate system was put in place after a nod given by the state cabinet on November 25, 2022.

Ghaziabad police are also considering improvement in traffic enforcement and curbing movement of criminals. In this context, the CP held a meeting with officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last month and asked them to put up additional CCTV cameras on National Highway (NH- 9).

For internal traffic management and surveillance, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation last year prepared a detailed project report for the installation of Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS) and it is pending with the state government for approval.

“I have raised the issue of ITMS in a video conference with the director general of police and principal secretary (home). The ITMS proposal by the corporation has a coverage of 58 locations. Once we get the approval of these 58 locations, we will send a supplementary proposal for the inclusion of about 100 more locations. So, overall, we will have about 200 vital locations under CCTV surveillance,” the CP said.

CP Mishra said to bolster ground-level traffic enforcement, 39 sub-inspectors will be joining the force in the coming weeks as they have already completed their training in Sitapur.