Ending more than a fortnight’s wait for a top cop to head the state’s police force, OP Singh on Tuesday, 23 January, took charge as Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Police (DGP).
Singh arrived in Lucknow early in the morning today where he was received by officials at the airport.
“The new DGP has taken over the charge and will be interacting with the media later in the day,” DGP, PRO Rahul Srivastava said.
“It is my honour that I have been made the chief of a very efficient police force which has a history of its own,” Singh said after taking charge.
Singh, a 1983-batch IPS officer, had been named as the UP DGP by the Yogi Adityanath government following the retirement of Sulkhan Singh on 31 December 2017. At the time OP Singh was serving as the chief of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The UP government had then requested the Centre to relive Singh from the Central deputation and repatriate him to his parent cadre so that he can assume charge.
It was only on 21 January that the Centre agreed to the proposal for Singh’s “premature repatriation” thus clearing the decks for him to take charge as UP DGP.
Singh, a gallantry medal winner, had been heading the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) since September 2016. The 59-year-old headed the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) leading the force in a number of rescue operations including the 2015 Nepal earthquake.