LAHORE: Inspector General of Punjab Police Dr Usman Anwar has expressed his utter displeasure over the pendency of thousands of cases at the Central Police Office and in the offices of the regional and district police officers.

While chairing multiple meetings at the CPO, Safe City Authority and Qurban Lines here on Monday, he showed his dissatisfaction over the performance of the senior police officers concerned and the other staff.

In a meeting at CPO, the IG set two-day deadline for the heads of the various departments, particularly the welfare wing, when the data presented before him showed several pending cases related to the requests about salary, medical, welfare and other core issues of the police force.

He directed the police officers concerned that he was giving them a tentative time of two days and asked them to submit reports of their respective wings regarding disposal of the cases while mentioning the deadlines they would follow to clear the pendency.

A spokesperson for the Punjab police said the provincial police chief has directed the RPOs, DPOs and other senior officers at the CPO to complete the inquiries and appeals of thousands of the police employees against punishments which were lying pending for the last two years or so, giving them the Feb 16 deadline.

Similarly, Dr Usman directed them to formulate the recommendations regarding the promotion cases of the police officials in their respective regions and districts and submit him the same by Feb 9.

He said all the documents and recommendations including ACRs for promotion from constable to DSP should be sent to the CPO till the given time period.

The IG Punjab issued directions to intensify security measures for the foreign nationals especially for the Chinese in all districts of the province as per the SOPs issued in this respect.

During his surprise visit to the Safe City Authority, he directed the officers to focus on the crime-hit areas of the provincial capital for an effective monitoring through cameras.

The Punjab police chief said the Safe City is a remarkable project of modern technology which should be fully utilised for maintaining law and order situation in the city, traffic management and operations against anti-social elements.

“With the help of Safe City cameras, focus should be kept on monitoring the crime-hit areas in different locations of the city”, he said.

Dr Usman Anwar directed that in view of the recent wave of terrorism, special attention should be paid to the monitoring of the entrances and exits of the city and sensitive installations, important roads, government offices, educational institutions, religious and minority worship places.

He stressed that street crime, terrorism threats and traffic accidents can only be prevented with effective coordination and by timely response of the police.

Dr Usman Anwar directed the authority to make every possible support and technical assistance to provide the investigating officers from the recorded digital evidence in Safe City cameras so that the criminal cases can be brought to a logical conclusion.

While reviewing the working of various branches including CCTV monitoring and Pukar 15 system, the Punjab police chief directed the staff concerned to behave with the complainants politely while attending their calls.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2023