category Regional, chandigarh, , tags Regional, chandigarh, , DW BUREAU Chandigarh A two-week Capacity Building programme for the Samavesh Staff of Chandigarh Police was organized by the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) Chandigarh from December 4th to 14th, 2023, at its campus. The programme was organized in association with the Community Policing Division (CPD) of Chandigarh Police. Samavesh is a unique program launched by Chandigarh Police in partnership with the people. Samavesh Kendras have been set up to provide citizens with dignified access to police-related services and a forum to implement community-oriented programmes. The Samavesh Programme was conceptualized by the DGP Praveer Ranjan IPS in association with IDC Chandigarh. It was launched by the Administrator of Chandigarh, Banwarilal Purohit, in October 2023. Ms Kanwardeep Kaur IPS, SSP Chandigarh, informed that during one month of its launching, it had solved 353 minor disputes, conducted around 12,500 awareness activities, conducted over 4,000 passport verifications, brought down pendency for other verifications to less than 1,000 from an earlier figure of over 8,000, and, recorded over 700 visits by its staff to the senior citizens living alone. The capacity building programme covered significant themes such as institutionalization of community policing programme administration, organizational structure, and functions; convergence of Samavesh with police, civil administration, IT and community; implementation of the outreach activities, e-saathi and e-beatbook mobile applications, area safety and security plans, gender sensitization, drug prevention et cetera, significant for the smooth functioning of Samavesh Kendras. In his address, Dr. Pramod Kumar, Chairperson of the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) Chandigarh, said, Samavesh is the humanitarian face of Chandigarh Police . The earlier notions of policing the police and personality-oriented ad-hoc community policing engagements have been replaced as these initiatives have been institutionalized and transformed from enforcement-oriented to community-oriented and service-oriented policing. He emphasized that the police stations are the nerve centre of policing; therefore, it was urgent to transform them into service-oriented and citizen participatory centres. Praveer Ranjan IPS, Director General of Police (DGP) Chandigarh, in his valedictory address, said that the Samavesh Programme was conceptualized in association with the IDC Chandigarh. He mentioned that as no other executive agency of the government interacts with the public at the same scale as the police do, the role of a police officer becomes much more imperative. He informed that Samavesh Kendras have been delivering around 18 non-crime-related services, and some of those related to verifications are even being delivered within 24 hours of the citizen s application. (editor dailyworld.in)