Pune police’s Seva initiative should be replicated across state: Maiden RTS commissioner
The Seva kendra is located on the premises of the Pune police commissioner’s office near Sadhu Vaswani chowk. The initiative was inaugurated on September 1, 2018, by Swadheen Kshatriya
The Pune police outreach initiative called, service excellence and victim assistance (Seva), should be replicated by other police departments in the state, said Swadheen Kshatriya, chief commissioner, Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Public Services (RTS) at the inauguration of a Seva kendra in the city on Tuesday.
The Seva kendra is located on the premises of the Pune police commissioner’s office near Sadhu Vaswani chowk. The initiative was inaugurated on September 1, 2018, by Kshatriya. Since then, 1,89,986 citizens have reached out to the police out of which 1,66,709 complaints have been resolved, according to a statement issued by the police.
“I hope that this example can be given to other districts and other police commissionerates in the state. We will surely request the government to see how this programme can be replicated at the state level,” said Kshatriya.
Seva was conceptualised by Pune police commissioner K Venkatesham while he was serving as the commissioner of Nagpur city. Among other outreach efforts, the initiative requires police station officials to follow-up with the people who come to visit them or call them. The police stations have been provided with tablet computers to record the contact and basic details of every person who visits the police station. Four people who recieved police assistance spoke during the event.
“I was so scared of the police that I went to the police station the first time, but could not go in. The second time I gathered the guts and went in. You are making everyone’s life comfortable,” said Anita Salunke.
Police commissioner K Venkatesham; joint commissioner Ravindra Shisave; additional commissioner Ashok Morale; deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Bachchan Singh and DCP Sambhaji Kadam were present on the stage when the former chief seretary of Maharashtra was speaking.
“I will spread awareness about the Pune police initiative, not only to other police departments but to other government departments as well. In Maharashtra, we have 39 departments and I will ask all departments to follow the initiative,” said Kshatriya.
The officer also lauded the police initiative to publish books about the experiences of police personnel who work on the field. The Centre for Police Research (PCR) along with various publishers have printed books about varied experiences of Pune police officials.
