Punjab re-engineers passport verification process-Sukhbir Singh Badal
Inaugurates new office of community policing wing
5 Dariya News
SAS Nagar (Mohali)/Chandigarh 20-May-2015
Punjab today set an example before the nation in community policing by re-engineering the decades old police related administration and service system into a quicker, transparent and citizen friendly besides establishing an effective and quick feedback mechanism to serve the people in an efficient way.Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal accompanied by DGP Mr. Sumedh Singh and DGP community policing Mr. SK Sharma while interacting with media after inaugurating the new office of the community policing wing here today, said Punjab led the nation in "improvement in governance" by taking new initiatives like setting up of Sanjh Kendras and Unified Service Centres besides instituting a Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (PBIP). He said that after following abolition of affidavits by Punjab now the Union Government also studying one stop clearance mechanism "PBIP" to form a similar national level body for speedy approval of investment projects.
Badal said Saanjh Kendras have provided big respite to common masses as huge number of 17,10,681 services were obtained in last one year and out of which 30% were only passport verifications. He informed that state government has started a simplified as well as quick police verification system for getting a passport. Under the new system the applicant will be informed through SMS about the receipt of his application from the passport office followed by a call to fix an appointment for visit by the police for verification. The appointment would be confirmed through SMS and applicant to be informed about the prescribed fee."For Police verification special dedicated teams equipped with motorcycles and mobile/tablets are designated at Saanjh Kendras. Simultaneously the crime records will be checked to verify the criminal antecedents of the applicant. This initiative is being extended to other verifications being undertaken by the police such as service verification, character verification etc.", he added.
He said the robustness of this re-engineered process lies in the feedback mechanism. A window for recording feedback in this regard is provided to the citizens on the Punjab Police website. In addition, police officers have been tasked to make random calls to get feedback not only about the fee charged but also about the experience of the applicant during the process of police verification.He also announced to set up 100 more Sanjh Kendras by December this year besides setting up 2174 unified Service centres in rural and urban areas covering on an average 5000 population per one such centre.
Replying a query about the success of newly launched helpline 1905, Mr. Badal said that more than 5000 calls were being received daily and expressed confidence that within one month it would be fully streamlined. Deputy CM said to make it a more effective tool to resolve the grievances, he would review the functioning and public response of this helpline on fortnightly basis besides randomly calling the complainants to enquire about their satisfaction and feedback.Replying another query regarding a PPCC delegation led by its President Partap Singh Bajwa calling on the President, Deputy Chief Minister said that "he has a single point agenda to save his chair and it could only be possible for him by remaining in the news to show his presence to congress high command that too only by defaming Punjab."
Later on, the Deputy CM launched the SAANJH website comprising relevant information regarding the various police related services, the fees prescribed by the government for each service and information about officers designated under the RTS Act to provide the services. A detailed presentation about the capability of the Saanjh software was also made before the Deputy Chief Minister.He said that to make the people part of Sanjh functioning, Sanjh Committees in all districts have been formed by including prominent persons from all walks of life and their suggestions would be implemented to further improve the Sanjh concept. Besides this, all SSPs have been asked to conduct a monthly meeting with Sanjh committees to take a feedback from the grass root level, he added.