New Odisha DGP takes charge, sets priorities

Bhubaneswar, July 6: Aiming at winning people's confidence, Odisha's new Director General of Police Sanjeev Marik today said besides tackling naxal menace, police would endeavour to redress public grievances in a time-bound manner through a special cell.

"My top priority will be to win confidence of the common man. Police will focus on crime prevention," Marik said soon after taking over as the state police chief.

The 1981 batch IPS officer took over charge at the state police headquarters in Cuttack from outgoing DGP Prakash Mishra who will be CMD of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC).

Top among the agenda was to take concrete steps to effectively deal with the Maoist problem in the state, Marik said, adding emphasis would also be laid on taking appropriate crime prevention measures. Dealing with crimes against women and modernisation of the police force would get high priority, the new DGP said.

In view of frequent road accidents in different places including the state capital, priority would also be given to strengthen the traffic system, he said. Stating that public grievances need to be accorded due importance, Marik said steps would be taken to ensure that those were redressed properly in a time-bound manner through a special grievance cell.

Stressing that police officers are duty-bound to uphold the law without fear or favour and provide a sense of security to people, he said "we also need to improve the police-public interface and create an environment conducive to peace, progress and development."

"We should project a humane face of policing by becoming friendly and accessible to the people and responsive to their grievances all the time," Marik said.

Outgoing DGP Prakash Mishra said Odisha Police had achieved success in all major cases including crime and Maoist menace during the last two years. He hoped the police would maintain the standard in the coming days.

PTI