Rs 175 crore sought from Centre to procure more anti-drone systems: Punjab DGP

The Punjab government has sought funds to the tune of Rs 175 crore from the Centre to procure 17 anti-drone systems in the next financial year, DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Wednesday.

The top cop also said Punjab Police would operationalise two software for tackling organised crime in a scientific way.

Addressing media persons here, Yadav spoke in detail about the focus areas of the police next year.

Three anti-drone systems have already been installed in the border areas and six more would be operationalised, he said.

“The state government has sought Rs 175 crore funds from the Centre to procure 17 more anti-drone systems in the next financial year. A high-powered committee has been formed for this purpose.”

“Trials (in coordination) with the BSF are going on, an expression of interest has been issued, and the best available system will be procured in a coordinated manner with the BSF and other agencies,” Yadav said.

The committee will be headed by Special DGP Ram Singh, and comprise senior IPS officers Praveen Sinha and Neelabh Kishore.

On the ongoing anti-drug drive ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, Yadav said police received major success under the Safe Punjab helpline.

The focus would be on financial investigation to break the backbone of drug trafficking, the DGP said.

The Anti-Narcotics Task Force of Punjab Police would be modernised and its offices would be opened in Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Jalandhar by March next year, Yadav said.

To tackle organised crime in a scientific way, police would operationalise two software, he said.

“One is an upgraded version of the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS), in which voice analysis has already been introduced. When an inmate enters a jail, his voice sample is taken. This is being extended to facial recognition,” the officer said, adding that this would be used against organised crime in an effective way.

Second, the organised crime information software version 2.0 would be operationalised next year, Yadav said.

“It will be a query-based search system. It has been linked to the NIA’s software on organised crime for seamless exchange of information with the national database,” the DGP said.

Yadav also spoke about linking the passport issuance system with the criminal record verification system to prevent criminals from fleeing the country by using loopholes.

Police’s focus would be on hybrid challenges such as trans-border smuggling using drones, foot soldiers active in terror activities and organised crime, the DGP said.

“We will operationalise a strategy involving issuance of Red Corner and Blue Corner notices in coordination with the CBI and the NIA, and our focus will be on bringing criminals from abroad to face the law,” Yadav said.

The entire ecosystem, including financiers and those who support them, would be mapped in an end-to-end manner, the networks will be targeted and busted, he said.

The work on installing more than 2,300 CCTV cameras at 585 locations as the second line of defence would be ready before March, Yadav said, adding that it would be a great boost to the internal security grid.

The DGP also said the response time for the 112 helpline would be reduced to 7-8 minutes as against 12-13 minutes at present.

“For this, an ultra-modern control system will be set up in Sector 89, Mohali, at a cost of Rs 200 crore in a phased manner, while Rs 125 crore will be spent on upgradation of vehicles,” he said.