Move to create separate force comes a month after the leader and his deputy were roughed up by members from the opposition parties at civic body headquarters
In the wake of the recent incident where the Navi Mumbai mayor Sagar Naik and his deputy were manhandled by the opposition parties, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has decided to set up a civil police station dedicated to the civic body.
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On October 9, Naik was held hostage and his deputy was hit with a sandal by a female corporator when he tried to rescue his superior.
Roughed up: Mayor Sagar Naik being manhandled by a woman corporator from an opposition party at the NMMC headquarters on October 9. file pics
Though the proposal of setting up of a police station was tabled two years ago, the process was hastened after the skirmish, which tarnished the corporation’s image in the state.
Sources in the NMMC said corporators from the opposition party could have been controlled and the mayor’s manhandling could have been averted if enough policemen were stationed at the NMMC headquarters.
The proposed civil police station will have around 28 police personnel, including an assistant police inspector who will be appointed its in-chargeu00a0
At present, only a limited number of policemen are present during major corporation meetings.
A senior NMMC official said, “Despite making demands on a regular basis, we aren’t given more than seven to eight policemen at the time of general body meetings. We have seen the opposition parties go berserk even on trivial issues and it becomes very difficult to control them with the help of limited number of policemen provided by the Belapur police station. So we have hastened the process of setting up a civil police station, wherein we will have enough strength to keep untoward incidents at bay.”
The proposed civil police station will have around 28 police personnel, including an assistant police inspector who will be appointed the in-charge.
The corporation will appoint the personnel through home department, which will execute the recruitment process, and depute policemen at the NMMC’s civil police station. Salaries of the policemen and maintenance of the police station would be looked after by the corporation.
Officialspeak
Municipal Commissioner Bhaskar Wankhede said, “We have come up with the initiative, as there is a litigation filed in the high court pertaining to setting up of a civil police station by corporation to check encroachment in the city. We have sent the proposal to the state government and expect it to be approved in two months’ time. Once we get the approval, we will request the home department to recruit police personnel for us.”
The civil police officials will be able to register criminal cases against those trying to spoil corporation’s work. In addition, the officials would also be able to conduct investigation and file a chargesheet in the law of court.
Once the proposal is cleared, the NMMC would build the new police station on one of its reserved plots.u00a0
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