Bhubaneswar, December 30: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced creation of a Special Wing in the Odisha Police to look after offences against women and children.
“Crime against women and children remains our focus area. I hereby announce creation of Special wing in Odisha Police to look after offences against women and children. I expect that with these initiatives, quality services will be provided to the women and children,” said the Chief Minister while gracing the valedictory session of 62nd Senior Police Officers’ conference.
The CM also commended the overall effort of Odisha Police in handling the Corona Pandemic situation with compassion and empathy. While doing so we lost many police personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty.
“I am happy to note that within record time, special family pension has been sanctioned to 38 next of kin. Similarly, 29 next of kin have received Rs 50 Lakh ex-gratia compensation and rest should be processed without any delay. I also commend the 930 police personnel who have voluntarily donated plasma for treatment of Covid patients for their spirit of service,” said Patnaik.
A progressive and sustainable improvement has been noticed in the Left Wing Extremism situation. Two brave hearts have laid down their lives this year in the fight against the Maoists.
Families of the martyrs should be taken care of by the State Police. The LWE problem is dynamic in nature and keeps changing, close monitoring and focused efforts should continue. I specially commend the work of SP, Malkangiri and Kandhamal in this connection, said the CM.
Patnaik also appreciated the efforts of Keonjhar and Angul SPs for the overall improvement in the industrial atmosphere.
“However special drive against organized crime and extortion should be carried out with more focused efforts. Low conviction rate continues to be an area of concern. All possible steps should be taken to enhance conviction rate by factoring in modern technology into the investigation,” added Patnaik.
“Road Safety is another area of concern. Road accident related fatalities are very high in our State. There is need to take up preventive and enforcement initiatives as well as public awareness campaign in coordination with other stakeholders like Transport, Works Department etc. to bring down such fatalities,” said Patnaik further.
Government is aware of need for strengthening Civil Police in the State in view of increasing demands on the police services.
