Alok Singh is Noida’s first CP after district upgraded to commissioner system
A woman police officer of SP rank has been posted both in Lucknow and Gautam Buddha Nagar for women security.
1995-batch IPS officer Alok Singh was on Monday appointed as the first Noida Commissioner of Police. The appointment came hours after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced the police commissioner system for ‘smart and safe’ policing in Lucknow metropolitan area and Noida.
DIGs Akhilesh Kumar and Sriparna Ganguly have been appointed as Additional Commissioners of Police (ACPs) in Noida.
Adityanath had presided over the meeting of the state cabinet that decided to have officers of Additional Director General of Police (ADG) rank as the police commissioners for Lucknow Nagar and Noida.
“This is an important day for UP police. We have taken a big decision for smart and safe policing,” the chief minister had said while briefing media persons about the state cabinet’s decisions. He said that the state government has decided to transfer powers in 15 different provisions of law to the commissioners of police and “they would distribute these powers in the new system on their own”.
Adityanath also said that two joint commissioners of police of Inspector General of Police (IG) rank have been posted in Lucknow to take care of law and order and crime respectively. In addition to this, 10 DCPs have been posted in Lucknow. Two additional commissioners of police (ACPs) of DIG rank and seven DCPs have been posted in Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida).
A woman police officer of SP rank has been posted both in Lucknow and Gautam Buddha Nagar for women security and to deal with the cases of crime against women. A SP rank officer will be responsible for traffic management at both the places.
ADG Prayagraj zone Sujit Pandey has been posted as Lucknow Commissioner of Police while IG, PAC, attached to DGP headquarters Lucknow Naveen Arora and IG, PAC, headquarters Lucknow Neelabja Chaudhary have been posted as joint commissioner of police Lucknow. ADG/IG Meerut Alok Singh has been posted as Commissioner of Police, Gautam Buddha Nagar, while DIG, PAC headquarters, Lucknow, Akhilesh Kumar and DIG, Prisons, Sriparna Ganguli, as the ACPs Gautam Buddha Nagar. Two new police stations have been created at both the places and more police stations are likely to be set up in coming days.
In Lucknow, the state cabinet has decided to divide Lucknow into two police districts and transferred 40 police stations to Lucknow metropolitan area to work under the police commissioner. A Superintendent of Police would be posted to manage the remaining five police stations in Lucknow rural area.
Replying to a question whether the police commissioner system being implemented in the state would be similar to Mumbai, Delhi or Gurgaon, Adityanath said the system was being implemented in accordance with the provisions of Uttar Pradesh Police Act. He said that the act provided for a police commissioner system in areas having a population of over 10 lakh. He also said that the proposal to implement the police commissioner system was pending in the state for nearly 50 years (since 1970) and recommendations in this regard had been given by the experts from time to time.
He said state government was being placed in the dock by the judiciary for delaying the decision over the years. He said successive government did not implement the police commissioner system for lack of political will. The UP government had decided to appoint senior IPS officer VD Panjani as the Kanpur Commissioner for Police in 1978. But the decision was rolled back due to pressure from various quarters.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik too had sent a letter to Adityanath suggesting implementation of the police commissioner system on January 5, 2019. Naik had said in his letter, “There are 19 cities across the country where population is over 20 lakh and three of which (Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad) are in the state... the police commissioner system is presently operational in 71 cities across the country.”
Uttar Pradesh IAS Association which has consistently opposed the move in the past has, however, maintained silence on the issue. “There is no reason for the association to take up the issue at present. There have been no instances when a law and order situation has not been resolved due to any delay on the part of district magistrates. The DMs instead have helped in resolving the law and order situations by using their good offices,” said a senior IAS officer.
