LAHORE: The caretaker Punjab government on Tuesday granted approval to establish 22 new police stations in the city under the scheme of the Special Initiative Police Stations (SIPS), taking the total number of police stations to 106 in the provincial capital.

The sub-committee on cabinet and finance approved the new scheme after detailed deliberations here on Tuesday.

After the approval, the Lahore city will have for the first time over 100 police stations under the SIPs, a project launched by the caretaker government to upgrade all 735 police stations of Punjab, including 84 of Lahore, at a cost Rs1.9 billion.New police stations will be established in all the existing six police divisions keeping in view the crime rate and burden of work.

The government has also allocated land where the new police stations will be established on one and two kanal areas.

The new police stations have been proposed at Wahdat Road, Shafiqabad, Nishtar Colony, Nawankot, Sherakot, Ghalib Market, Lorry Adda, Islampura, Harbanspura, Shalimar, Samanabad, Shahdra Town, Batapur, Sanda, Shadman, Johar Town, Nawab Town, Sundar, Kot Lakphat, Gujjarpura, Shadbagh and Qauid-i-Azam industrial area.

An official privy to the information told Dawn that it was the longstanding demand of the Lahore police high-ups to expand the scope of the police stations in the provincial capital following the mushroom growth of population, housing societies and commercial markets.

The big police stations will be housed in three and small ones two-storey buildings under the SIPs scheme.He said the government also approved budget for the establishment of 22 new special initiative police stations in order to expedite the plan.

According to the approved scheme, the police stations will be established in phases by the end of 2024.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2023