Alok Kumar takes charge as Noida Police commissioner;Sujit Pandey takes charge as Lucknow

NEW DELHI:The Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Alok Kumar, took charge as the first Commissioner of Police of the newly-formed Gautam Buddh Nagar commissionerate on Wednesday.nnThe Uttar Pradesh Government had on Monday announced switching to the commissionerate system of policing for Lucknow and Noida, giving magisterial powers to the top cops in both cities.nn”About 1,600 police personnel have been added in the last two days. Nine IPS officers have joined here to assist me whereas earlier only one IPS officer headed the Gautam Buddh Nagar police. More personnel could be added as per requirement,” said the newly appointed police commissioner.nn”As for law and order, the focus will be on improving citizen-centric services. Now Noida has got domain experts to tackle cases,” he said. On cyber crime, the police commissioner said process is underway to develop Noida as an Information Technology hub. “It will be a world class facility. Another focus would be on sensitizing potential victims of cyber crime,” he added.nn”Our primary focus would be working women security, controlling crime, police interaction with residents, traffic management, organised and smart policing in the areas, cyber frauds and senior citizens security,” said Kumar.nnSingh, a 1995-batch IPS officer, holds the rank of an Additional Director General (ADG) and was till last week serving as the Inspector General (IG) of police of Meerut Range.nnState capital Lucknow and UP’s economic capital Noida will now have an ADG-level officer as its police commissioner, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had told reporters after chairing the meeting of the state Cabinet that took the decision.nnSingh has earlier commanded the police force in 11 districts of the state including Kaushambi, Baghpat, Sonbhadra, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Unnao, Bijnor, Kanpur, Meerut and Barabanki.nnThe 52-year-old officer was also awarded with the President Gallantry Medal for busting naxal network in Sonbhadra, among other honours.nnOn the other hand, Senior IPS officer Sujit Pandey took charge as the first police commissioner of Lucknow after the commissionerate system of policing was implemented in the state.nnSpeaking to reporters after taking charge, the 1994 batch IPS officer said his priorities would be to improve the law and order in Lucknow and security of women.nn”Today the entire team is taking charge, and immediately after this there will be work distribution and zone distribution of DCPs and other officials. In the past years, we have done good work in improving the law and order scenario in Lucknow. The effort will be to make it a little more better,” he said.nn”We will try to infuse professionalism and give smart policing. We will try to provide a mixture of conventional policing and use of technology, and make it a police system with more responsibility and more professionalism,” he said.nnPandey said the new system will be more sensitive and an officer will be deployed to hear grievances of the people.nn”From constable to officers, we will work as a team. We will face challenges and try to give a better atmosphere to the people of Lucknow,” Pandey said.nn”I will fulfil whatever responsibility is given to me. My first priority will be to improve law and order and check crime. Security of women will be a top priority,” he said.nnPandey said his endeavour will be to give citizen-centric policing.nn”The concept of police for people and honest policing will be implemented,” he said.nnThe Yogi Adityanath government had on Monday approved the commissionerate system of policing in Lucknow and Noida.nnThe system gives more powers, including magisterial powers, to police officers and is aimed at better and effective policing. As many as 40 police stations will come under the Police Commissionerate System in the state capital and besides the police commissioner, who is of ADG rank, there will be two Joint Police Commissioners of IG rank, one for law and order and another for dealing with crime related issues.nnWith Press Trust of India Inputs