BHUBANESWAR: In a major decision, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced creation of a Special Wing in Odisha Police which would investigate offences against women and children.At the valedictory session of the 62nd Senior Police Officers’ Conference, the Chief Minister said the initiative aims at providing quality service to women and children. Reiterating that crime against women and children remains the focus of his Government, Naveen urged the senior officers to provide quality leadership and be caring and sensitive to victims and their families while ensuring justice to all sections of the society.
The announcement holds significance as it comes in wake of the Nayagarh minor murder and rape incident which has grabbed headlines. The CM commended Odisha Police for its deft handling of the Covid-19 pandemic with compassion and empathy. He also paid tributes to police personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty. He informed that special family pension has been sanctioned to 38 next of kin while 29 have already received `50 lakh ex-gratia compensation within record time.
Naveen flagged low conviction as an area of concern and directed that all possible steps be taken to enhance the rate by factoring in modern technology into the investigation.He also felt that there is a need for preventive and enforcement initiatives by Transport, Works Department to bring down fatalities in road mishaps.He also unveiled operation of six new police stations while sanctioning 905 additional posts in various ranks have been to strengthen police stations by surrendering equal number of posts elsewhere.
Naveen said, government is aware of shortage of housing for frontline police personnel and announced that substantial funds will be allocated to fulfil such requirement.He urged State Police to come up with new ideas to improve its image by providing quality services.On the day, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, Development Commissioner SC Mohapatra, Principal Secretary, Home Sanjeev Chopra and Principal Secretary, Finance AKK Meena also interacted with the participants on various issues and challenges relevant to contemporary policing.