Chandigarh: People will no longer have to make repeated visits to Punjab Police stations for their cases as the force is set to get around 1,600 new personnel by March 2026. Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said this during a press conference in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The DGP said that all 1,600 personnel will be posted as inspectors, sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors. These appointments are being made through promotions and all selected personnel are currently undergoing training. He said that the induction will strengthen police stations across the state.
Yadav said that the police response time on Dial 112 will also improve significantly. At present the response time in Punjab is around 10 to 12 minutes. Efforts are being made to reduce it to five to eight minutes. He said that after the changes people will receive police assistance much faster after calling Dial 112.
Modern control room to be built in Mohali
The DGP said that a modern control room will be constructed in Sector 89 of Mohali at a cost of Rs 200 crore to improve Dial 112 operations. Around Rs 125 crore will be spent on upgrading vehicles.
He said that in the last three years Punjab Police has spent Rs 800 crore on vehicle upgrades. Under the central government’s vehicle scrap policy no vehicle older than 15 years can remain on the road. As part of this policy Punjab Police has scrapped 2,000 old vehicles and inducted 1,500 four-wheelers and 400 two-wheelers over the last three years.
Yadav said that 8,100 new vehicles will be purchased for PCR operations next year.
He added that during the current year Rs 45 crore has been spent on police welfare, Rs 80 crore on counter-intelligence, Rs 40 crore on the cyber crime division, Rs 60 crore on border area police stations, Rs 106 crore on computerisation, Rs 142 crore on police buildings, Rs 80 crore on modernisation and Rs 258 crore on police vehicles.
The DGP said that all SHOs of the state’s 454 police stations have been provided with new vehicles and all DSPs will also be given new vehicles this year.
