NMC plans 10 civic police stations in city

In a bid to check civic body related crimes like illegal constructions and encroachment, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation proposes to set
up 10 separate police stations across the 10 zones in city. A separate police station with 20 cops, including a police inspector rank officer, has also been proposed for the octroi department, to handle cases of octroi evasion and conduct special raids etc, a senior NMC official said on Monday.

Under the proposal, the civic body will get a civic police force of 150 to 200 cops from the state home ministry. The cops would be led by an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police (ACP). The civic police force will also have four officers of the rank of police inspectors (PI) and 45 lower ranking police officers, with 75 to 100 police constables and 25 to 50 women constables, a senior NMC officer said.

The proposal will be put up before the general body for approval and later forwarded to the urban development department (UDD) for finalisation, he added. UDD will move the proposal to the state home ministry, which will ultimately recruit and train the cops for this. As per the state government GR, the special civic police stations would be authorised to register offences.

"We propose to set up 10 civic police stations, one each in every NMC zonal office, with a staff of at least 15 civic cops. They will not only handle civic related crimes but also provide security to the zonal offices," NMC officials said. Further, these civic cops will provide security from anti-social elements who attack civic officials during anti-encroachment drives and action against unauthorised constructions. We will also deploy civic cops to deal with other civic related issues like providing security to water tankers and overhead water tanks for smooth operation of water supply during peak summer season. Presently, every year NMC is forced to take the state police department's help for such work," officials said.

NMC officials said, "Recently, the high court had come down heavily on NMC for the spread of unauthorised constructions in the city. The court has made it clear that it was not satisfied with the steps taken by NMC to check illegal constructions."

The civic administration also wants the special NMC cops to prosecute all civic related cases, including civil cases. This would mean that the civic cops would handle cases as diverse as illegal constructions, octroi evasion, illegal parking, food and drugs adulteration, illegal hoardings and assaults on civic staffers etc.

Presently, some 22 cops are with NMC on deputation from the police department, including a police sub inspector and three assistant police inspector rank officers along with 18 constables. The civic body spends almost Rs 50 lakh annually as salaries and other benefits for these cops, NMC officials said.