DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav on Thursday directed officers to take stern action against lawbreakers to maintain the state's law and order.

Director General of Police (DGP) Yadav held a state-level review meeting of all police officers -- from the rank of additional directors general of police (ADGP) to station house officers (SHOs) -- via videoconferencing. The Punjab Police chief reviewed the ground-level action against criminal activities, including organised crime and drugs trafficking.

Special DGP (Special Task Force) Kuldeep Singh, Special DGP Arpit Shukla, ADGP (Anti-Gangster Task Force) Promod Ban, ADGP (Intelligence) RK Jaiswal and ADGP (Counter Intelligence) Amit Prasad were among the senior officers who attended the meeting, an official statement said.

Although the Punjab Police made a record seizure of 1,450 kilogrammes of heroin in 2023, Yadav stressed on the need to control supply at the point of sale by further intensifying vigil on peddlers and smugglers. He also asked the officers to identify the prominent smugglers and take strict action against them to break the supply chain.

The DGP directed them to utilise the services of domain experts to uncover the trail of drugs money and make the maximum use of provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act to freeze illegally acquired property of suppliers.

Yadav asked the SHOs to be accessible to the public to ensure citizen-friendly policing while ensuring that no anti-social element is spared at any cost.

The police chief has already directed all senior officers from the rank of ADGPs to SHOs to be present in their offices from 11 am to 1 pm on all working days to resolve public grievances.

Yadav also ordered all district police chiefs to work in coordination with special units to eliminate gangster culture and drugs. He directed them to hold monthly crime review meetings at the district level and hold orderly rooms to listen to the grievances of police

personnel.

Addressing field officers, Special DGP Singh asked them to tighten the noose around drug smugglers to disrupt the supply chain.

He said a dedicated helpline is being set up for enabling the general public to confidentially share information regarding drugs.

Special DGP Shukla stressed on the need to carry out night dominance operations and keep a vigil on repeat offenders, especially those who have three or more FIRs registered against them. Ban asked the field unit officers to keep track of gangsters and criminals out on bail. Prasad stressed on the need to activate human intelligence and asked officers to spend time in villages to gather information regarding criminals.
(editor@dailyworld.in)