City to get more police personnel soon

PUNE: The city is set to get an additional force of 600 police personnel in the near future. State home minister R R Patil said here on Sunday that, of the 15,000 new recruitment which will happen soon throughout the state, 600 will be deployed in Pune.
Patil was speaking at a function organised to inaugurate the modernised police control room and computerised foreigners registration office (FRO) here on Sunday.
Union minister of agriculture Sharad Pawar inaugurated the new control room and FRO in the Pune police commissionerate. Minister of state for home Ramesh Bagwe, Pimpri-Chinchwad mayor Aprna Doke, commissioner of police Satya Pal Singh, joint commissioner of police (law and order) Rajendra Sonawane and deputy commissioner of police (special branch) Ravindra Sengaonkar were present on the occasion. Pawar also inaugurated the web site of Pune FRO.
Patil promised to deploy 600 policemen in Pune after Singh brought to his notice the huge difference in the manpower of Mumbai and Pune police forces.
Singh had said that, after Mumbai, Pune was the most important city in the state. However, "While there are 250 policemen for the one lakh population in Mumbai, there are only 46 police per lakh population in Pune."
Patil said, "All the major cities in the state are on the hit-list of terror groups. But, I am sure that our police force is capable of fighting these groups. The government have provided good weapons and vehicles to the police. Soon, Maharashtra police will be the best in the country.
During his speech, Pawar said that the new FRO and control room have a corporate look. This would certainly help the police to increase their efficiency. "Police offices should be clean and smart. At the same time, the police should be stern and take decisions quickly to solve the problems of the people. This will change the perception of the public about the police."
Pawar added, "Some segments of the society always blame the police for no reason. Many officers in the force have been working hard. If one always blamed them, they may get frustrated. This will affect their efficiency."
Talking at the function, Singh said, "We have kept our promise, which we had given to the minister of the state for external affairs, Anand Sharma, last year. When Sharma was in the city, some foreign students met him and complained about the delays at the FRO. We had promised Sharma that we will change the functioning of FRO. We have successfully achieved it." Singh added that, "Our FRO is one of the best FROs in the country."