Chief Minster Jai Ram Thakur while speaking in a review meeting of State Home department here today sought reasons for less conviction rate under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. He issued direction to crack-down heavily on the drug and mining mafia in the state. He said that drugs of types whether conventional or psychotropic was the serious challenge before the police and a concrete plan was required to nip the drug mafia.He said that the Police needs to restore and rebuild its image. After few cases of rape and murder in the state during the previous government regime and the way the cases were handled the police earned a bad name. The Chief Minister said that now with change of the rule, the people were having more expectations from the new government and the police with its community schemes needs to win the lost faith. Let not the people hesitate to seek help of the police, he said. The police friendly initiatives need to be undertaken.Showing his concern over the increased deaths due to accidents in the state, the Chief Minister said that a plan needs to be formulated to strict traffic rules. Though the interception vans can be deployed on national highways and few other places but the drunken driving and driving while listening to mobiles should be checked upon immediately, he said. Police needs to be strict on these issues and ensure that the traffic rules are obeyed by people.
On women safety issue, Chief Minister said that the safety of women was the utmost priority as well and on 27th of January, 2018 'Guddia Helpline' and 'Shakti Button Mobile App' would be launched. The shake- up system to ensure that the mobile don’t get disconnected would also be a unique feature of the App.The Chief Minister also directed to work in direction of launching 'Hoshiar Singh Helpline'. He said that Himachal Pradesh should be the first state to launch 112, a toll free number for emergency, ambulance, fire and police. The government of India had issued directions in this regard to the states to make it operational.It was informed in the meeting that under the 100 days target efforts will be made to start polygraph test in the state. It was also decided to make all fire hydrants operational The Chief Minister said that the municipal Corporation and IPH department should work in close co-ordination in this regard. Also find out as to what could be done if separate water connections for hydrants were required, said he.
It was also disclosed in the meeting that Himachal Pradesh is the first state to provide mobile tablets in all police stations under Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS) and state was second in rank in the country for passport verification system.It was also decided that under the Student Police Cadet Scheme of Government of India, 60 schools will be covered in a phased manner with five schools from each district.Chief Secretary Shri Vineet Chawdhry, Director General of Police Shri S.R. Mardi, Additional Chief Secretary Shri Shrikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Smt. Manisha Nanda, Principal Secretary Home Dr. Parbodh Saxena, and other senior Police and civil officers were present on the occasion amongst others.