By Sahil Makkar, IANS
New Delhi : Now Delhi residents won’t have to travel all the way to a police station to make a complaint. They can directly approach any of the 500 Police Control Room (PCR) vans posted all over the city.
Thanks to a unique initiative by Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal, PCR vehicles – which have so far been used as emergency vehicles to reach trouble spots and chase traffic violators – are to become mobile police posts.
To be called ‘Delhi Police Ki Chalti Firti Police Chowki’ (mobile police post), the vans will be cruising all over the city all the time in an effort to bring the police closer to the city’s 16 million plus residents.
“It is a unique experiment, the first time in the country where PCR vehicles have been assigned an additional task of a mobile police post and a new look to help people,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (PCR) Ajay Kumar told IANS.
Until now, PCR vans could be accessed only after people dialled the number 100 or on the orders of officials in the police headquarters. But now they can be approached directly.
“It is a step to strengthen community policing. People don’t buy the concept of PCR vans; so for their expediency and better utilisation of our fleet we have moved for an image makeover. It would certainly help in bridging the gap between policemen and the general masses,” he said.
While policemen at the PCR vehicles will try to solve complaints at their level, they will not have the authority to register First Information Reports (FIRs).
The PCR vans will flaunt messages engraved in Hindi and English.
One of the messages in Hindi reads: “‘Delhi Police Ki Chalti Firti Police Chowki’, while another showcases Delhi Police’s punch line “Aap Ke Saath, Sadaiv Aap Ke Liye” (With You, For You Always).
On the front door next to the driver’s seat, the message is: “Hum Turant Karyavahi Karte Hain (We act immediately), 1. Police Control Room (100) Ke Nirdesh Par (on the directions of Police Control Room) 2. Nagrikon Ke Nivedan Par (on the request of citizens), 3. Jhagda Fasad Vah Kanoon Todne Par (in case of dispute and lawlessness).”
The hi-tech emergency vehicles fitted with global positioning systems will of course continue the work of reaching trouble spots in no time.
Kumar said nearly 50 PCR vehicles had already been given a new makeover and the remaining were likely to cruise the cities over the next three months.
At present over 480 PCR vans attend to nearly 2,000 distress calls daily. They patrol an area covering 10 police districts comprising 128 police stations round the clock.
A senior Delhi Police official put the development as an effort to extract more effective work from policemen and mobilise them for better functioning.
“We welcome the new initiative of mobilising the resources to almost full extent. The PCR personnel will share some of the workload of cops in other departments and try to address people’s complaints on the spot. They would also inform the nearest police station about the gravity of the situation,” the official added.
Last year, PCR vans were given the additional responsibility of chasing and prosecuting drivers who violate traffic rules on the capital’s roads.