NEW DELHI, Sept 28 – With terrorists having struck Delhi and other cities in a big way, the Centre has now decided to complete Mega City Policing project with a renewed speed by providing sophisticated security apparatus to seven metro cities, reports PTI. The mega city policing project, which envisages to give wireless sets to beat constables, more patrolling vehicles, latest surveillance gadgets, strengthening intelligence gathering mechanism and helicopter, is being finalised to guard Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai in a systematic manner.
According to sources in the Home Ministry, a committee comprising Commissioner of Police of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi is made along with representatives from MHA and Bureau of Police Research and Development to look after the project.
The idea – which centres around exclusive city-specific policing plan with a separate budget – was mooted to curb urban violence, crime and terrorism in the cities which have crossed population of more than ten lakh.
“There are around 35 cities across the country that qualify as mega city. But, as a pilot project the scheme will be operationalised in the seven cities only,” a senior Home Ministry official said.
The plan also involves sharing of intelligence among the state police forces, strengthening of forensic sciences laboratories and online access to criminal data base system.
To achieve this, police skills, infrastructure and resources will undergo a complete review to strengthen its network, the official said.
The Counter Intelligence and Special task Force team along with a Specialised Weapon and Tactics (SWAT) squad will be raised as a part of the project.
“The committee was also in favour of providing specialised training to counter economic and cyber offences, organised crimes, strengthening security and intelligence, behaviour training, traffic and communication at police training colleges,” an official said.
The committee, at the recent meeting, decided to go for intensive use of computerisation in the policing system.
A nation-wide network for crime and criminal intelligence and aerial surveillance through man and unmanned helicopters were also mooted during the meeting.
According to official data, in 2003 the number of IPC crime across India stood around 17,16,120 while in mega cities it was 2,91,246.
“The crime is fast changing its face and pace, hence a city-specific modern force is a must,” the official said.
There will be a provision of integrated monitoring system for foreign nationals also, he said.
The Commissioners of police from the seven cities will meet once in every six months to assess the project.
Efforts are stepped up after five cities - Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Delhi - witnessed major terrorists attacks during the past couple of months.
After implementation of the plan in the seven cities, Jaipur, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kanpur will also be brought within its ambit, he said.
The police-population ratio in the country is now at all time low.
There are only 12,702 police stations for a population of over 100 crore which means one police station is responsible to provide security to 86,000 citizens. source: assam tribune
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