Zirakpur cops want new station

Mohali: Cops have demanded that the

Zirakpur police station

be shifted from its present location in the middle of the town, citing it as a major disadvantage in maintaning law and order — a problem they faced when they had to control the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda recently.

The police have asked for land on a roadside for the station. A demand to set up police posts near main roads rather than deep inside the town has also been made.

The municipal council will discuss the issue of allotting land for a new police station at concessional rates in its next house meeting.

Zirakpur municipal council president K S Sohi said, “The local police faced problems during the dera protest when it had to evict lakhs of people from Zirakpur. We held a meeting with police officials and discussed the issue. We will locate land for the new police station.”

This is not new as maximum police stations in Mohali district are running out of space. This is mostly because vehicles that had been seized in different crimes have not been claimed for years.

There are five police stations operating in Mohali from phases I, VIII and XI and Mataur and Sohana. Out of these, only phases I and VII police stations are in proper buildings.

Police posts of Baltana and Dhakoli are operating from community centres and don’t have land of their own. Before Mohali became a district in 2006, almost all the police stations were housed in community centres. In 2012-130, they were forced to vacate the buildings after orders passed by the court.

A government house in Sector 66 was converted into a police station, while the Mataur police station is operating from Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan located opposite Phase VII market.

In April 2016, then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had given approval to allot five sites for setting up new police stations in Sector 89, Aero City, IT City in Sector 66 Beta, Medicity in New Chandigarh (Mullanpur) and Sector 77.