Lahore police has released a huge sum of Rs 100 million out of a total of 190 million allocated for the establishment of the Special Initiative Police Stations(SIPs) in the Lahore region.
To eradicate ‘thana culture’, the department has planned to introduce modern technology and smart idea-based model police stations to provide citizens quick relief and increase trust levels between the public and the police.
The Police department has announced establishing division-wise committees under the supervision of the respective SPs of the operations wing, making the sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs), station house officers (SHOs), and the muharrars their respective members. This will ensure transparency in the utilisation of the funds released by the Punjab government for the upgrade of all 84 Lahore police stations.
The project, the brainchild of Punjab Police IG Dr Usman Anwar, will involve converting all 735 police stations of the province, including 84 in Lahore, into the Special Initiative Police Stations. Caretaker setup in Punjab allocated Rs1.9 billion, including Rs190 million (19 crore) for Lahore SIPs. Out of the total allocated amount, Rs60 million (6 crore) will go to the taxes while the rest amount of Rs30 million (3 crore) will also be released in the weeks to come.
According to the scheme, Two LCDs each will be installed in the lobby (the space for the citizens) and in the offices of the SHOs. the cameras will be installed outside the bars to monitor the activities of the suspects, in the office of the SHOs, and at the front desks of the police stations.
Each police station will house a control room and Qmatic system to facilitate the citizens.
Out of the total of 84 police stations, the buildings of the three police stations — Mozang, Hanjarwal and the Civil Lines — have been completed and inaugurated.
The 70 percent of the total civil work of the rest of the buildings of the police stations is near completion, the official said.
Talking to Dawn, Lahore Operations DIG Ali Nasir Rizvi suggested that the Lahore police department would submit a request to the Punjab government through the IG office to provide Rs70 million additional amount to meet expenses.
