Safety of women ad vulnerable sections is top priority for the Delhi Police and the target is to raise the participation of women police personnel to one-fourth of total strength by 2025, said Rakesh Asthana, Commissioner of Delhi Police today on the day the force celebrated its 75th Raising Day with a grand ceremonial parade at New Police Line, Kingsway Camp.
As a Chief guest, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present who took the salute and inspected the parade and also released ‘Delhi Police Commemoration Stamp’ along with MoS (Communications) Devusinh J. Chauhan and Rakesh Asthana, in recognition of 75 years of glorious services rendered by Delhi Police to its citizenry.
In his welcome address, the Commissioner of Police while greeting the guests, presented a brief on evolution of Delhi Police in independent India under guidance of visionary Home Minister Sardar Patel.
Besides talking about women safety and increasing the women strength in force, Asthana also said that Delhi Police has always risen to the occasion and proved itself in every field.
“79 police personnel lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Delhi Police remained at frontline with doctors & health workers and provided all possible assistance to citizenry going beyond the call of duty,” he said adding that Delhi Police is providing 30 digital services to capital residents.
The CP, Delhi further stated that the force is also committed for welfare of its personnel and has given more than 5,000 promotions in current year, 48 of which were out-of-turn promotions.
“Besides, 45 police personnel were awarded Asadharan Karya Puraskar and 164 kin of deceased police personnel were granted jobs on compassionate ground. A special medal has been dedicated in the memory of Late HC Rattan Lal, who attained martyrdom in North East riots,” said Mr Asthana.
The Police Commissioner said that efforts are also being made to fix the duty hours for the personnel. On community outreach initiatives, the CP, Delhi said that skill centers have been set up for youth who have deviated from mainstream and more than 50,000 such youth have been trained in various skills and also provided opportunities for jobs or set up businesses.
On the structural changes brought about in the force, the CP, Delhi said they have led to reduction of response time for PCR from eight minutes to four minutes.
The Chief Guest, Mr Amit Shah also presented medals to 62 police personnel for Gallantry, Distinguished Service, Meritorious Service and Jeevan Raksha Padak.
Poonam Parik widow of Late HC Rattan Lal received the Gallantry Medal conferred posthumously upon him.
Three trophies for the best police stations were also given. The trophy of best Police Station was bagged by P.S. Kanjhawla, while PS Krishna Nagar and PS Kashmere Gate took the first and second runners-up trophies, respectively.
Ajay Bhalla, Union Home Secretary, Arvind Kumar, Director, Intelligence Bureau, Kiran Bedi, Former Governor, Pudduchery, former Commissioners of Police TR Kakkar, Dr. KK Paul, and other retired as well as serving senior police officers were present on the occasion.
Starting with the ‘Raising Day’ on 16th February, Delhi Police is celebrating its “Police Week” to launch several citizen oriented services in various parts of the city and publicize the ongoing service facilities for people to build better public interface.