BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to set new standards in policing through ‘Mo Sarkar’, a transformative initiative of the 5T programme of the State Government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced that he would personally make 10 phone calls everyday to people visiting police stations to take feedback on how professionally their complaints are dealt with.
Interacting with the officers-in-charge (OICs) of police stations through video-conferencing from the Secretariat, the Chief Minister said those doing good work will be immediately appreciated and action initiated against those not meeting the expectations of the people on the basis of the feedback.He said under Mo Sarkar, to be launched from October 2 (the Gandhi Jayanti day), the phone number of every petitioner visiting the police station will be recorded and made available to everyone in the system - from the Chief Minister to the SP. “Under Mo Sarkar, the citizen will not chase us. We will follow up with the complainant as to how he was treated at the police station and how his complaint was dealt with,” he said.
Stating that all officers and police stations exist for the citizens, the Chief Minister said, “We run our administration on tax payers’ money and we draw our salary from the citizens.” It is the duty of every police official to treat citizens with dignity whenever they visit police station and deal with their complaints in a professional, ethical and humane manner. “This is the transformation we seek to achieve through Mo Sarkar,” he said.
The Chief Minister referred to the achievements of Odisha police in bringing down the activities of Left wing extremism (LWE) from half of the State to half a district, professional policing during Hockey World Cup and handling more than a million strong crowd during Rath Yatra every year. Now, it can set new standards through Mo Sarkar by keeping the citizen as the focus, he added.
Addressing the OICs, Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy said police officials should work as people’s servants. Principal Secretary in the Department of 5T Initiatives, VK Pandian said ‘Mo Sarkar’ is an important initiative launched by the State Government and Odisha is the first State in the country to start such a programme. Stating that complainants would not have to go anywhere, Pandian said action on their complaints would be taken at the police station level.
As people go to police stations and hospitals to solve their problems, the Chief Minister has decided to launch Mo Sarkar from these two departments, he said.Director General of Police BK Sharma said extensive training of police officials has started to make Mo Sarkar successful. He asked the officials to treat all complainants coming with dignity and be sympathetic towards their complaints. Secretary for 5T Initiatives, VK Pandian also addressed the OICs. Chief advisor in the Chief Minister’s office R Balakrishnan and senior officials were present.