Police Commissionerate rollout deferred to Jan

 

 

 

 

THE rollout of Chhattisgarh’s first Police Commissionerate in Raipur – originally planned for November 1 as part of the state’s Silver Jubilee celebrations – has been deferred to January 2026, following a closed-door meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai. The project, described as one of the Government’s most significant administrative reforms, will now undergo additional vetting to ensure a smooth and well-coordinated transition. A senior official familiar with the closed-door meeting said Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai took note of the procedural delays with concern and advised that the rollout of the Police Commissionerate be taken up only after all legal, administrative, and operational aspects are fully harmonised.

 

“The Chief Minister emphasised that the new system must be robust, practical, and acceptable across departments,” the official observed. The adjustment comes despite consistent efforts by Home Minister Vijay Sharma, who had been working closely with senior police officers to facilitate an on-time rollout. However, the delay in submission of the final blueprint by the Police Headquarters (PHQ) and the time required for inter-departmental consultations resulted in a shift of the implementation timeline. “The file reached the Home Department later than anticipated, and given the scale of administrative and legal coordination involved, additional time was deemed appropriate,” said a senior bureaucrat closely involved in the coordination between PHQ and the Secretariat. Speaking to ‘The Hitavada,’ Additional Chief Secretary (Home Department) Manoj Pingua said, “It is in the process since lots of technicalities are involved, given the extensive and intensive framework required for the Police Commissionerate in Raipur, which is aimed for the larger benefit of the people underlining the technical and institutional depth being built into State’s first metropolitan policing structure to ensure it stands the test of administrative and legal scrutiny.”

 

According to a credible source who is part of the task force committee, the seven-member PHQ task force submitted its detailed proposal to the Home Department on September 27, following which multiple rejoinders and clarifications were sought by the department. The panel has also recommended a legislative route through the Chhattisgarh Police Amendment Act, 2025, which would formally introduce the Commissionerate system in Raipur. The draft draws upon best practices from Maharashtra’s Mumbai Commissionerate and Odisha’s twin-city model of Bhubaneswar–Cuttack. As per the proposal, the Raipur Police Commissionerate structure envisions a Commissioner of Police (CP) not below the rank of Inspector General of Police (IGP), supported by one Additional Commissioner of Police (Addl. CP) of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank. Beneath them, the framework proposes eight Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) including four zonal officers for North, West, Central, and Naya Raipur, and four specialised DCPs for Cyber Crime, Headquarters, Traffic, and Crime Against Women. Additionally, the blueprint recommends 20 Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs), largely drawn from officers of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) or City Superintendent of Police (CSP) rank, to strengthen operational command across the city’s expanding jurisdictions. The PHQ panel, chaired by Additional Director General of Police (Planning and Provisioning) Pradeep Gupta, included Inspector General (Narcotics) Ajay Yadav, Inspector General (Raipur Range) Amresh Mishra, Inspector General (CID) Dhruv Gupta, Deputy Inspector General (Telecom) Abhishek Meena, Deputy Inspector General (CCTNS) Santosh Singh, and Superintendent of Police (Special Intelligence Branch) Prabhat Kumar.

 

Legal inputs were provided by Mukula Sharma, Joint Director of Prosecution, who served as a special invitee. The final blueprint submitted amid an intensive phase of administrative reviews and inter-departmental consultations has now been referred to a committee of senior IAS officers from the Home, Finance, and General Administration Departments for detailed vetting, legal review, and fiscal alignment. Officials said the postponement also coincides with an event-packed schedule in November. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Silver Jubilee celebrations in Nava Raipur on November 1 and will return later in the month for the 60th All-India Conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police, from November 28 to 30.

 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval are expected to attend, along with senior police and security officials from across the country Once the necessary scrutiny and inter-departmental concurrence are complete, the Chief Minister will finalise the rollout route, which will very likely be through the Chhattisgarh Assembly by introducing the Chhattisgarh Police Amendment Act, 2025, on the floor of the House during the winter session expected in late December,” confirmed a senior task force member, adding that the transition is being approached with both legal caution and institutional foresight.