Chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated four police stations and a traffic guard in Bhangar on Monday, almost six months after she had proposed to bring the area, on the city’s south-eastern fringes, under Kolkata police.
“Uttar Kashipur, Polerhat, Chandaneswar and Bhangar police stations, and the Bhangar traffic guard’s office, are being inaugurated today,” Mamata said
after unveiling them virtually at a programme on the occasion of students’ week at Dhanadhanya auditorium in Alipore.
“This is the 10th division of Kolkata police. I would also urge you to bring (areas under) Kheyada I and Kheyada II under this (division). This area is adjacent to Bantala. Since it lies unguarded, many indulge in certain activities,” Mamata said.
“A notification should be issued immediately so that such activities stop in the area.”
Senior officers at Kolkata police said the four new police stations have been carved out of the Baruipur police division by splitting Bhangar police station into Chandaneswar and Bhangar and Kashipur police station into Polerhat and Uttar Kashipur.
Four more police stations — Madhabpur, Bodra, Hatishala and Bijoygunge — will start functioning in Bhangar over time, they said.
In July, at an informal get-together with senior police officers at the Bodyguard Lines in Alipore, the chief minister had proposed to the Kolkata police commissioner, Vineet Goyal, to bring the trouble-torn Bhangar under Kolkata police.
The panchayat polls had just ended and Bhangar was then bleeding with frequent reports of alleged bombings and political clashes.
A week and a half after Mamata had mooted the proposal, a team of senior officers from Kolkata police scanned the two blocks of Bhangar to draw up a report on how the area could be brought under Kolkata police.
Bhangar, spanning around 232sq km, has a population of around 3.5 lakh and was earlier covered by just three police stations — Bhangar, Kashipur and Kolkata Leather Complex.
The leather complex police station was already under Kolkata police.
The team’s report prescribed that the three police stations be split and seven
police stations set up to ensure intensive policing, in accordance with the guidelines of the Bureau of Police Research of Development (BPR&D).
Senior officers said BPR&D guidelines on setting up of police stations under police commissionerates state that the area and the population covered by a police station should not exceed three square kilometres and 10 lakh, respectively.
“It took some time to make ready the buildings that house the police stations
and the traffic guard, set up wireless and internet connectivity, install cameras and bring in manpower and vehicles,” said a senior Kolkata police officer, who oversaw the formation of the Bhangar division.
“The idea is to offer intensive policing in these areas with police stations that have smaller jurisdictions.”