NEW DELHI: The Centre is planning to have a uniform architectural design for police stations and jails across the country and will soon invite architects to come up with design proposals. A uniform design of the police stations would not only help the public in easy identification of such buildings, but also aid in taking forward the community policing, which the Centre has been harping to the states governments and the police forces.
“To bring in uniformity and easy identification, all police stations need to have similar designs across the country. A national-level competition is being considered for inviting architects to submit proposals for architectural designs of police stations as well as jails,” said a senior Union Home Ministry official.
The Home Ministry has advised the state governments to consider shifting of old jails, occupying large tracts of prime land in cities and towns, to the periphery in order to free the plots for alternative use, the official further said.
The Centre has also advised the state police chiefs to take initiative in solving police housing/infrastructure issues by harnessing private sector resources under Public-Private-Partnership. The states have also been advised to adopt the Gujarat model to resolve the housing issue for the police.
While the Centre has further advised the states to consider establishment of Police Building Corporations, the Home Ministry is already mulling set up of an engineering wing in the Central paramilitary forces.