Odisha to have three new police commissionerates

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 2:

Odisha will have three new police commissionerates in three cities- Brahmapur, Rourkela and Sambalpur.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik gave his in-principle approval for the proposal this evening, official sources said.

Senior police officers of IG and DIG rank will be in-charge of the new commissionerates in these cities, the sources added.

The Police Commissionerate system was first introduced in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in 2008 under the Odisha Urban Police (OUP) Act, 2003.

The proposal for the introduction of commissionerate policing to tackle the increasing law and order challenges in these three cities was submitted by the state police to the Home department recently.

The Uurban Police Act, 2003 provides for creation of commissionerates only for places which have municipal corporations, a status that only one of the three cities- Brahmapur -has currently. The civic bodies in the other two cities, Sambalpur and Rourkela, are yet to receive the official status of corporations.

“The government may create a Police Commissionerate for any area comprising the territorial area of any one or more corporations constituted under the Orissa Municipal Corporation Ordinance, 2003 and may include any other contiguous area as may be specified in the notification,” says Clause 4 of the OUP Act.

Introduction of commissionerate police system in these three would help check crimes in these three cities, considered centres of trade in illegal arms and illicit liquor, robbery, burglary, theft, dacoity, murder and gang-wars.