Kolkata police want to start operations of its new division in Bhangar with four police stations and a traffic guard.
A senior officer at Lalbazar said they want to start the Bhangar division “at the earliest”.
It is nearly two months since chief minister Mamata Banerjee wanted the city
police to take charge of Bhangar.
“To begin with, we want to start with four police stations and a traffic guard. The rest will follow,” said the senior officer overseeing arrangements for the new police division.
Bhangar will be the 10th division of Kolkata police, spread across 232sqkm on the city’s eastern fringes.
Senior officers at police headquarters Lalbazar said on Friday that the deputy commissioners of all nine divisions of Kolkata police have been asked to submit a list of four officers, two assistant sub-inspectors, and one sergeant each who would be re-deployed in Bhangar.
“Eight officers in charge of the armed police battalions have been asked to submit a list of 25 constables each for the new division,” said a senior police officer.
“Once the lists are ready, the deployment for the four police stations will begin.”
In July, Mamata had urged Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal to set up a separate police division in Bhangar, which has been the crucible of continuous violence since the rural polls were declared in June.
Bhangar already has three police stations. One will be added for the start of the new division and four more will come up over the next few months following norms laid down for setting up new police stations by the Bureau of Police Research of Development (BPR&D), senior officers said.
“We want to start with a traffic guard in Bhangar under an assistant police commissioner. The guard will have two inspectors, 15 traffic sergeants, and an equal number of assistant sub-inspectors and close to 100 constables,” an officer said.
“Subsequently, there will be a second traffic guard in Kashipur. The office of the traffic guard will start functioning from an existing police setup in Bhojerhat.”
Bhangar, which is represented by Nawsad Siddique, the lone MLA of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in the Assembly, comprises 19 gram panchayats, many of which are contiguous with Rajarhat-New Town.
Senior police officers said it was vital to establish strong policing in this region because of Bhangar’s geographical location. Hemmed by water bodies and large tracts of empty land, Bhangar stands at the junction of three districts — Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.
“Separate teams of officers have scanned the entire area and have submitted their proposals including how many women officers were required, which areas need to have a police station immediately and how traffic movement can be regularised along the Basanti Highway,” the officer said.