Chandigarh, August 18
Ludhiana is set to become the first Police Commissionerate in Punjab with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal giving the go ahead to the Punjab police to make a detailed presentation in this regard.

According to sources, the Punjab police has finalised its proposal and it is likely to be presented to the Deputy CM, who also holds the charge of Home Affairs, soon for approval. The state police has at present proposed a Police Commissionerate only for Ludhiana. Police Commissionerates for Jalandhar and Amritsar are likely to be taken up in the second phase.

Sources said Haryana’s decision to establish a Police Commissionerate at Faridabad recently seems to have egged on the Punjab Police to demand a similar system in Punjab. Haryana had earlier also established a commissionerate at Gurgaon more than two years back.

According to the report, it is proposed that an officer of the rank of IG/DIG be made police commissioner of Ludhiana. It is proposed that two joint commissioners of the rank of selection grade superintendent of police and six to seven deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) be posted under him. It is proposed to divide the city into three districts for better police management.

Though the proposed new commissionerate will have the same police strength for the time being, it will be augmented later. Ludhiana, which has the second largest population in northern India, has only 2,500 police personnel to maintain law and order. If one goes by the national police ratio (142 police personnel per 1 lakh population), it requires 5,300 policemen on duty in the city.

Besides law and order, it is also under staffed as far as traffic regulation is concerned with just 250 personnel on traffic duty. There are 10 lakh registered vehicles in Ludhiana, including 25,000 auto rickshaws. More intense policing is required to tackle issues like registration of migrant labour.

The sources said though the idea of Police Commissionerates was mooted during K P S Gill’s tenure as the DGP in 1993 and then subsequently in 1997 and then again during the Capt Amarinder Singh-led government, they fell through due to resistance from the state bureaucracy. The IAS lobby feels creation of commissionerates will reduce the power of the deputy commissioner who will be reduced to working as a development officer with all powers of criminal justice administration going to the commissioners.

The Punjab Police, however, seems to have convinced its political masters that police commissionerates are the best answer to the need for more efficient urban policing.