UP`s new top cop favours commissioner system of policing

Lucknow: Newly-appointed Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Rizwan Ahmed on Wednesday said he would push for prompt implementation of the commissioner system of policing in select towns and cities on a top priority-basis in the coming days.

Talking to a news agency, the top cop, who rose to the post superseding four others thus bagging the top post in world`s largest police force, said he had already, as director-general (railways), submitted a proposal to the state government on the commissioner format of policing for cities like Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra and Allahabad, as also state capital Lucknow. Ahmed is a 1978-batch Indian Police Service officer. "The ground work has been completed, and the state government is favourably disposed to the new format. I am sure things will move soon in the right direction" he told a news agency. Listing another priority during his brief, two-month term (he is set to retire Feb 28), the new DGP said he would sensitise policemen to the problems of the people, and ensure that they were more caring and careful in dealing with members of the public. Admitting that his was a brief tenure, Ahmed, known for his proximity to ruling Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh, said he would try to do whatever was best for the state and its populace. The new police chief has been given the charge of ensuring communal peace. His mission is to promptly contain communal flare-ups, if any. Many senior officials, however, aver that he has little time on his hands, too little to effect lasting changes. "The state needs a long-serving top cop to initiate far-reaching changes. This (appointment) is a stop-gap arrangement, just the political leadership sending a message to the minorities in the state," a senior police official said. Ahmed is the first Muslim police chief in the state. This is also the first time that both top posts in the state government - that of chief secretary and director general of police - are held by Muslims. The leadership of the Samajwadi Party, under fire for its handling of the Muzaffarnagar riots and its aftermath, faced pressure from party cadre to have a Muslim face as the top police official.