Reception desks for visitors set up at five police stations

GUWAHATI: Come to Panbazar police station any day now, and you will find a reception desk to welcome you. From now on, five police stations in the city will have 'reception rooms' to address any queries of complainants or visitors and guide them accordingly.
The concept of reception counters or rooms in police stations was initiated by Assam Police to bridge the police-public network, to ease functioning of the police stations as well as to facilitate the visitors with a conducive ambience.
Inaugurating the first-of-its-kind reception room at the Panbazar police station, a major police station in the city, Assam Police director general Kuladhar Saikia said these reception rooms will play a vital role in coming days. Saikia said, "The reception rooms will guide the visitors as per their need. Anyone coming to these police stations will have a very unique experience. These reception rooms will work as a vital point to improve police and public coordination."
These reception rooms are expected to ease the process of not only filing a complaint manually but are also likely to help people know their case status.
"Around 47 receptionists, who happen to be women constables, have undergone special trainings on how to handle visitors and will be directly reporting to their respective officers-in-charge. These women police constables were trained in soft skills as well as in public relations," sources added.
Setting up of reception rooms in police stations have been intended to make police stations more people-friendly and treat visitors in a disciplined and polite manner. More police stations are likely to be covered under the initiative in future. Besides Panbazar, Bharalumukh, Dispur, Fatasil Ambari and Jalukbari police stations have also set up reception rooms. These reception rooms are going to start functioning shortly.
In February, the state government had launched the Mission for Overall Improvement of Thana for Responsive Image (MOITRI) scheme, focusing on making police stations in the state citizen-friendly. It has envisaged refurbishing police stations with facilities such as reception and waiting lounge, video-conference system, separate women and children cell, separate entry for them, toilets, adequate drinking water facility and boundary wall.
Earlier, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had announced that all 346 police stations in the state will be covered under the scheme, for which Rs 125 crore has been already earmarked.