10-day long ‘Winter Carnival’ commences at Shimla
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated the ten-day long Winter Carnival Shimla at The Ridge here on Tuesday.
The newly appointed Director General of Police (DGP) of Himachal Pradesh, Somesh Goyal called for people friendly functioning of Police department, ending menace of drugs and crime against woman.
Talking to mediapersons after assuming charge, Goyal said his priorities would be to tackle the menace of drugs in the state with concerted and unified efforts. “If the drug smuggling in the state were under control then Chief Secretary wouldn’t have to launch awareness campaign on the issue,” he said, adding intelligence gathering system would be further strengthened to check smuggling of drugs in bordering areas.
Advertisement
The bordering area which are used as safe haven would be properly monitored and strict action would be taken against drug peddlers and other persons associated with the trade.
Advertisement
Goyal said his other priority would be to make police people friendly on ground and not only in papers. In addition, public service delivery system would also be improved. “A strategy would be prepared for modernisation of Police force and tackling cyber crime cases,” he said.
A 1984-batch IPS officer, Goyal who was serving as Director General, Prisons replaced Sanjay Kumar who was appointed as Director General, National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF).
During his stint as DG Prisons, he had brought in several reforms in jails across the state and his initiatives had borne fruit after several inmates took to self employment courses. His efforts led to opening of a cafe at the historic Ridge where the products made by the inmates are sold to general public.
Goyal was a front runner for DGP’s post when Sanjay Kumar was made the DGP as he was the senior most IPS officer in the HP cadre at the time. A former journalist, he is an avid photographer who has several photo exhibitions to his credit. He has also served in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) which is tasked to guard the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders.
Advertisement
