February 25, 2014
West Bengal Police get headquarters, thanks to the initiative of WB CM
Bhawani Bhawan at Alipore started functioning as the West Bengal Police headquarters on Monday. Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee, inaugurating the new Police Directorate, also tried to set straight a British-era anomaly when the state police didn`t have a headquarters. Kolkata Police always had one in Lalbazar ever since its formation back in 1856. The state police will now also move into the historic Bhawani Bhawan – another colonial edifice, like the Kolkata Police`s Lalbazar headquarters – which was earlier called Anderson Building.
Bhawani Bhawan will now be the state police`s operational hub, even though some key officers – including the state DGP – will continue to have their offices in Nabanna, the state secretariat. Senior officers maintained this will not only help establish a linear command structure but would ensure speedy actioning. Multiple offices spread across Writers` Building, Salt Lake, Camac Street, Lord Sinha Road and fairly recently in Nabanna, where impeding decision making and subsequent actioning. With the four-storied Bhawani Bhawan now home only to Bengal Police, such problems will no longer remain.
The Chief Minister who is also the Home Minister said, “Unlike Kolkata Police, Bengal Police has always lagged in infrastructure. Nothing was done about it all these years. Now they will have a headquarters of their own. It will only lead to better coordination”. The state police headquarters will now control from Bhawani Bhawan 23 districts including 18 revenue districts; the police district of Jhargram; four Government Railway Police (GRP) districts; five police commissionerates (Howrah Town, Barrackpore, Bidhannnagar, Siliguri and Asansol-Durgapur); eight ranges (each headed by an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general of police) and four zones (each headed by an officer of the rank of inspector general of police).
