A day after the Centre appointed former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana as the Commissioner of Delhi Police, the 1984 batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer took charge on Wednesday and said that he aims to focus on core policing matters.

Asthana arrived at the police headquarters here on Wednesday morning and took charge in the presence of several senior officials. He was accorded a ceremonial guard of honor upon his arrival.

After taking charge, Asthana addressed the top police brass.

Hailing Delhi Police as the premier police force in the country with a formidable reputation in delivering services and handling challenging situations, Asthana outlined the basic policing duties — prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of law and order — and drew attention to the special tasks that need to be carried out on priority.

He also praised the track record of the Delhi Police in handling law and order situations and stressed continuing the good work in busting cybercrime, terror module, narcotics racket, gun smuggling, etc.

He also stressed community policing initiatives like YUVA, senior citizen services, etc.

Asthana said detection of crime and strong preventive measures not only reduce the crime burden but also ensure a feeling of safety and security in the city, particularly among women and vulnerable groups, for which the police should keep making more and more efforts.

Asthana also emphasized teamwork to achieve the goal of making Delhi Police one of the best metropolitan forces in the world.

Asthana will be in charge of Delhi Police for a period of one year till July 31, 2022. His date of retirement was July 31, which has been extended by one year “as a special case in the public interest”.

Asthana had also served as the police commissioner of Vadodara when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was serving as Gujarat’s Chief Minister.

The government had given additional charge of Delhi Police to Balaji Srivastava after the retirement of S.N. Shrivastava on June 30.

Asthana was currently holding the post of Director-General of the Border Security Force (BSF) and chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Asthana as the DG of NCB was at the forefront of drug seizures and had directed the investigation into the influx of cocaine and synthetic drugs in the Mumbai film industry.

He also led the NCB probe into the drugs angle in the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year.

As BSF DG, Asthana had pushed the force to make the borders more secure by unraveling tunnels used by Pakistan-based terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab.