If law & order is ok in UP, why police commissionerate system in more districts?

When the Commissionerate system has failed to improve law and order in Lucknow and Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida), questions are now being raised over Yogi government’s decision to introduce the system in Kanpur and Varanasi.

“Police commissionerate system to wasooli ka naya channel hai. (Police Commissionerate system is a new channel to earn money),” said retired IPS officer Amitabh Thakur while reacting to the government’s decision to introduce the system in Kanpur and Varanasi.

The Yogi Adityanath government on Thursday approved the commissionerate system of policing in Kanpur and Varanasi, the Parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying this will improve law and order in these cities. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting.

Opposition parties and retired IPS officers reacted strongly to the government's move saying it will have no positive effect and instead worsen the situation on the law and order front.

“The police commissionerate system is already there in Lucknow and Noida. Is this system being able to arrest the increase in crime in these cities? Instead, the crime has gone up there,” Thakur said.  Until the manpower in the police force is increased and the real problems are resolved, change in the system will not give a desired result, he said.

Reacting to the government’s move, another retired police officer and Samajwadi Party leader Ahmad Hasan said the outcome of introducing police commissionerate system was before everyone in Lucknow and Noida, where it had been launched almost a year back.

“The law and order situation in the two police commissionerate districts, especially in Lucknow, is the worst in Uttar Pradesh with daily reports of killing, rape, loot or dacoity coming from the state capital,” he said, adding that the traffic chaos, fear among girls and other vulnerable groups remained the same as it was when Lucknow had just one IPS officer to maintain law and order.

“Appointing several IPS officers is not going to give any desired results as the junior force remains the same and just their designations have been changed,” Hasan added.

Vinod Mishra, leader and spokesman of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), also questioned the introduction of the police commissionerate system. “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is continuously making propaganda that law and order is completely under control so a question arises- if everything is well then what prompts Adityanath to go for introducing commissionerate system in one after another district?” Mishra said.

He claimed that the law and order situation had reached its worst in the state capital since introduction of the police commissionerate system and the common man was feeling the pinch of deterioration in law and order.