CHANDIGARH: Following Operation Sindoor, Pakistan is waging a proxy war with the game plan of destabilizing Punjab, said the state's Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.
The focus of the Punjab Police would be on hybrid challenges such as trans-border smuggling using drones, foot soldiers active in terror activities and organized crime, said Yadav. He added that the state government has sought funds to the tune of Rs 175 crore from the Union government to procure 17 anti-drone systems in the next financial year.
Addressing an annual press conference here on Wednesday, Yadav outlined an ambitious and technology-driven “Vision 2026” for the Punjab Police, centered on a massive infrastructure and capability upgrade. He said, "We will operationalise a strategy involving issuance of Red Corner and Blue Corner notices in coordination with the CBI and the NIA, and our focus will be on bringing criminals from abroad to face the law. The entire ecosystem, including financiers and those who support them, would be mapped in an end-to-end manner, and the networks will be targeted and busted."
Yadav said, "Pakistan has a clear agenda to push drugs, arms and explosives into the state, as their intelligence operatives, whom we call Pakistan Intelligence Units (PIUs), use drones, social media and criminal networks to destabilize Punjab. The game plan of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is to push a narrative that Punjab is a destabilized state."
He added, "Trans-border smuggling of arms and ammunition is taking place in the state. This year, post Operation Sindoor Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir is waging a proxy war in Punjab and India is giving a befitting reply to him. He wants to create a disturbance in Punjab. That is why through drones they are sending arms, ammunition and drugs. There has been a massive push of arms in Punjab from Pakistan, which is almost five times more than past trends. Now, one kg of heroin is being dropped using drones, with one or two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-made pistols."
Yadav said, "The other challenge is the people who mastermind these actives are sitting in Europe, North America, South East Asia and Gulf countries. The foot soldiers who are being used have a minor criminal record. A few have NDPS cases registered on them."
He said, "Three anti-drone systems have already been installed in the border areas and six more will be operationalised. The state government has sought Rs 175 crore funds from the Centre to procure 17 more anti-drone systems in the next financial year. A high-powered committee headed by Special DGP Ram Singh, besides Special DGPs Praveen Sinha, SS Srivastava and Additional DGP Neelabh Kishore, has been formed for this purpose."
Yadav added, "Trials in coordination with the BSF are going on, an expression of interest has been issued, and the best available system will be procured in a coordinated manner with the BSF and other agencies."
He said that Drone Response Teams (DRTs) have also been pressed into action, and will be greatly synergized with Village Defence Committees (VDC) members’ involvement in the coming year.
"For border security, Yadav said that the second line of defence will see 2,367 CCTV cameras installed at 585 locations along the international border at a cost of Rs 49.58 crores, which will act as force multipliers."
"A key focus is the upgrade of the Dial 112 Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) with dedicated Dial 112 Central control room building to be established at Mohali at a cost of Rs 52 crore, while a fleet of vehicles will be augmented at a cost of Rs 50 crore," he added.
Yadav said, "Our target is to drastically reduce the current average response time of 12-13 minutes to just 7-8 minutes. District Control Rooms across Punjab are also being upgraded with an investment of Rs 25 crore to ensure seamless coordination and faster incident management, directly contributing to the reduced response time target."
The DGP revealed that the Punjab government has spent over Rs 800 crore on modernisation of the police in the last three years. He said that all SP rank officers in the field have been given new vehicles. Besides, all police stations and police posts have also been equipped with new vehicles.
He added that the state government has approved a mega police building project worth Rs 426 crore to be spent over the next three years. This includes new headquarters for the Cyber Crime division at Phase 4 in Mohali, new police lines in Nawanshahr and Malerkotla districts, and 11 other new police station buildings. New ANTF range offices will be opened in Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Jalandhar, with existing ones upgraded with modern gadgets and forensic tools.
Yadav said that pursuant to the new criminal laws, a witness protection scheme has already been notified by the Punjab government which will further help in improving the conviction rate. Network connectivity at police stations will be upgraded by 50 mbps to 100 mbps at all police stations depending on the workload.
He said the AGTF has further upgraded its technical capabilities, with Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS 2.0) now supporting voice analysis, besides other state-of-art features, and the Organised Criminal Information System (OCIS) -- a powerful digital solution designed to streamline the management of criminal records -- is further being upgraded.
Yadav also stressed that the Punjab Police will carry out a thorough investigation to identify and take stringent action against travel agents involved in procuring/facilitating passport on fake particulars for organised criminals.
To improve traffic management and emergency response in cities, Yadav said that dedicated traffic and road safety police stations will be established. These will be integrated with Integrated Command and Control Centres (IC3) for real-time monitoring using city CCTV feeds and adaptive traffic signals, he said.