Amritsar, January 12
Amritsar Police Commissioner Parampal Singh Sidhu has admitted that there were problems as far as public dealing in the police stations is concerned.

“The policing at the grassroots level needs to be revamped. The cases of aggrieved parties were not being heard properly at the police stations of the district,” observed the Police Commissioner, during the direct police-public hearing session, the first-ever initiative taken by the district police since the initiation of the Commissionerate system in the state.

The district’s topmost cop heard about 100 cases himself during the open meet held at Police Lines Ground today. The majority of cases were either family disputes or property disputes. In majority of the cases, the redressal was slow at the SHO level. Dejected by this lapse, several SHOs, present on the spot, had to bear the brunt of their top boss.

“The main purpose of conducting such a programme was to find out the root cause which prevented the case being solved speedily. In many cases, the FIR has been registered against the defaulters but the progress of investigation was slow. I have directly intervened just to check the drawbacks in our system mainly to determine that at what level the investigations get stalled up or proceed at snail’s pace”, told the Police Commissioner.

It has been scheduled to hold police-public meets regularly on the first and the third Wednesday falling in every month between 11 am and 2 pm. The next police-public meet has been scheduled on January 26 at Police Lines.

“This would be a continued process. We have got the aggrieved person issued a registration number and individual’s case has been demarcated to the SHOs or above level officers. Apart from this, the tentative time span has been earmarked to the officers for the redressal of the cases. I would make sure that proper follow-up of the case hearing is being initiated by the concerned police personnel,” said Sidhu.

Jalandhar, January 12
Congress leaders here are optimistic about the induction of Mohinder Singh Kaypee in the Union Cabinet, the expansion of which is likely before the beginning of the Budget session of Parliament. It has been reported in a section of media that the Prime Minister intends to rejig his Cabinet after January 14.

Former president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Mohinder Singh Kaypee, was elected from the local constituency in the last Lok Sabha elections. He defeated Hans Raj Hans, a famed Punjabi singer, who was put up as a candidate by the SAD-BJP combine. Capt Amarinder Singh recently replaced Kaypee as president of the PPCC.

Mild-mannered Kaypee belonged to the Dalit community that has a strong base in Doaba region. Otherwise, his community has a substantial vote bank across the state. “If the Congress wants to recapture power in the state, the Congress would have to perform better this time in the Majha and Doaba regions, where it was comprehensively defeated in the last Vidhan Sabha elections,” said a Congress leader, adding that keeping in view this factor, the Congress would have to win the support of all communities across the board. Kaypee’s family had been in politics for the past five decades and had a considerable influence in the area, he added.

More over, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has a considerable hold in the Doaba region. Senior leaders of the BSP belonged to Doaba region. Its incumbent president Avtar Singh Karimpuri is from Hoshiarpur district. Keeping in the view the importance of Doaba region for the BSP, its president Mayawati had sent Karimpuri to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. Owing to this reason, the induction of Kaypee, who is said to be in the good books of the party leadership at the Centre, is likely to become a political compulsion for the Congress.

The Assembly elections in the state will be held in 12 months from now. “We hope that the Congress high command will keep in mind the Assembly elections while deciding about the expansion of the Union Cabinet,” said a senior Congress leader here today. At present, Preneet Kaur, Manohar Singh Gill and Ambika Soni represent Punjab in the Union Cabinet.