LAHORE, Jan 8: The Punjab government has decided to construct 400 patrol posts throughout the province to arrest heinous crime.
The proposed posts will also serve as centres for providing immediate medical assistance to victims of road accidents and facilitate repair of out-of-order vehicles.
They will be linked to a network of coordinated manual and mechanical patrol system put in place for eradicating highway crime.
The decision to set up patrol posts was taken by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi at a meeting held here on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by provincial chief secretary Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa, home secretary Ejaz Shah, finance secretary Salman Siddique, IGP Masud Shah and others.
Besides, official sources told Dawn later in the evening, the IG also briefed the chief minister on the new Police Order 2002 at the meeting to apprise him of its salient features. The governor has already approved the order. However, the sources said, some differences still exist on its implementation which are said to be the real cause of the replacement of the previous IG and the DIG (headquarters).
Regarding the patrol posts, the IGP had told reporters last week on the eve of the induction of the new provincial cabinet that he had asked the district police chiefs to provide him with “maps for constructing patrol posts in their respective areas of jurisdiction”. But a senior provincial official insisted that the idea of posts had come up at an earlier meeting and the chief minister had asked the police department to firm up the proposal.
An official handout stated that the chief minister had also instructed the finance department to release funds for the patrol posts on a priority basis.
Chaudhry Pervaiz also expressed his dissatisfaction over the law and order situation in the province, directing the police to gear itself up for combating heinous crime, especially kidnappings for ransom. He said special squads needed to be formed to handle and investigate such crime.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction over the overall performance of the police, saying the department must improve its efficiency and build a pro-people image. He also directed to improve the working of 15 police complaint cell, saying the police must reach to help the caller in five minutes after receiving the call. The chief minister also allocated Rs20 million for the Police Welfare Fund.