Dreaded mafias held sway, ran parallel Govt before 2017 in UP: Adityanath

LUCKNOW, Oct 1: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said his Government had undertaken police reforms and expanded technology use to strengthen law enforcement, recalling that the state had earlier faced serious challenges with crime, communal violence and inadequate policing infrastructure.

"Before 2017, dreaded mafias held sway in every district and parallel Governments were being run. Police were helpless before them," he said, adding that police infrastructure and training facilities were also inadequate.

Adityanath did not name any political party for this state of affairs.

The Samajwadi Party Government ruled UP between 2012 and 2017.

Addressing a programme at Lok Bhavan here, where he flagged off 87 technologically equipped interceptor vehicles, honoured police personnel and released former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh's book Sangharsh, Adityanath said the state "had emerged from the period of policy paralysis".

The interceptor vehicles, comprising four-wheelers and two-wheelers, are intended to strengthen traffic enforcement and road safety across the state.

Referring to the period before 2017, Adityanath said, "If the political leadership itself cannot take decisions, and its backbone is bent, how can it straighten the law-and-order situation?"

He said only about 6,000 police personnel could be trained annually then and claimed the state later worked to improve police infrastructure and training. He said the situation resulted in prolonged periods of communal violence and curfews in several parts of Uttar Pradesh.

"There was frustration and disappointment everywhere. Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest population, had become a 'BIMARU' state and was among the weakest in the economy, recruitment and adoption of emerging technologies," he said.

According to Adityanath, after 2017 the state sought to overcome the situation through policy interventions and police reforms.

"Today I can say that we have also implemented police reforms," he said.

The Chief Minister said Uttar Pradesh had established seven police commissionerates and claimed that they were successfully providing services to the state's population.

Referring to the Supreme Court's directions on police reforms, Adityanath said his Government had taken steps to modernise policing and improve urban security.

"More than 14 lakh cameras have been installed across cities. They prevent incidents and help solve them," he said, adding that integrated command and control centres had also been established in districts.

He said the newly flagged-off interceptor vehicles would contribute to road safety and enforcement of traffic norms. Road safety, he added, remained a major challenge.

"Technology can be used to control this," Adityanath said, noting that he chaired road-safety-related meetings several times a year.

The chief minister also paid tribute to police personnel honoured for gallantry.

Inspector Sunil Kumar Singh of the Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force was posthumously honoured with the Kirti Chakra for his bravery, marking the first time the UP Police had received the gallantry award, Adityanath said.

He said 16 other police officers and personnel were honoured with the President's gallantry medals, while 10 personnel received the Chief Minister's gallantry medals.

Adityanath also congratulated Prakash on the release of his book Sangharsh, describing it as a record of his 35 years of experience in the civil police and in challenging states. He recalled his service in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, saying the book presented the lessons of those experiences.

"Theory is not merely a word or an article. It incorporates the practical challenges that he faced at every step," Adityanath said.

He also praised Singh's engagement with police reforms and noted that Singh approached the Supreme Court in 1996 advocating police reforms.

The Chief Minister said the combination of policing experience, reforms and technology was essential for creating a secure environment. "A secure environment is necessary for healthy thinking, for putting good ideas into practice and ultimately for achieving prosperity," he said. (PTI)