Saanjh Kendras are an Attempt to Build Bridge between Public and Punjab Police: Sukhbir Singh Badal

- More than 50 lakh people being facilitated in the state through 363 Saanjh Kendras; services resolve social and community issues

- Central Agencies and World Bank appreciate the tireless efforts of Punjab government

Saanjh Kendras, a novel sapling planted by the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and the President of Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal has attained a great success in the state as the services provided through the Kendras have been bridging the gap between the Public and Police by facilitating them in resolving social and community issues.

A clear and dynamic vision of Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal had gifted the Saanjh project to the state in 2011. A fully public centric project has linked up Punjab Police directly with the public through its 41 services.

Among the mentioned services, provision has been made for 25 services like copy of FIR or DDR, tenant or servant verification, service verification, character verification and passport verification under the project where the applicant or complainant gets the services with in a specific time frame through a single window system.

With an aim to settle community disputes, the Kendras have been providing services to more than 50 lakh people across the state within a span of four years. The days are gone when people used to scare off by the police while going to police stations to register their complaints related to different social and petty issues as the Saanj Kendras have also helped to uproot traditional and the dreadful image of Punjab police in the eyes of the public.

Terming the Saanjh Kendras as the biggest success of the ruling regime of SAD-BJP alliance, a World Bank Report study praised the Punjab Government for the citizen centric project in 2015. According to the report, “Remarkably, Punjab is the only State, in which the single-window system allows application for all of the licences studied in this assessment, although some others come very close.”

The Bureau of Police Research and Development (www.bprd.nic.in) had also lauded the tireless efforts of Punjab government in introducing people friendly services through “Saanjh Kendras”. The e-governance initiatives and community policing of the government also appreciated by the bureau in its report tabled in 2015 to centre government.

Saanjh Project itself speaks its success story as a professor and a researcher of Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Saboo conducted a research on these Kendra’s. Dr. Pardeep Mittal, a professor and Ms. Amandeep Kaur, a researcher of the mentioned university highlighted the positive aspects of the project. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering published the research paper in their Journal in 2013 which is available on the website www. ijarcsse.com.

Speaking about the initiative, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “More than 31000 personnel have been working in the Kendras and been imparted training of soft skills to deal with the citizens. It’s heartening to see the people approaching Saanjh Kendras without any hesitation. This has helped to develop a cordial relationship between the police force and public.”

There are 363 Saanjh Kendras or Police Outreach Centres set up across the state are dealing with registration of foreigners, investigation of cases of missing passports, complaints of fraud by travel agents, NRI complaints, tenant verification, registration and investigation of servants, passport verification and police clearance certificates at the time of foreign immigration, apart from other minor clearances.

A website www.ppsaanjh.com gives the entire information of the project including the helpline numbers and moreover, a dedicated number is given so that a complainant or applicant doesn't find any problem while using helpline numbers.

If we talk about the services of Saanjh Kendras at Moga, the Kendras have provided benefits to more than 50000 people.

People of Mohali are also availing services at the Kendras’ and the staff deals with more than 70 applicants in a day at each Kendra. Mandeep Bhatia, a resident of Phase 1 Mohali lost his wallet and articles. A software professional, Bhatia had different perception of cops but when he stepped up in one of a Kendra in Mohali, his vision regarding the Punjab police completely changed. "When I entered in the premises, the staff was soft spoken and within few minutes my Daily Diary Report was registered. It is unbelievable that cops turned friendly towards the citizens while solving their issues,” said Bhatia.

Aiming at youth is national slogan, it is the ruling government, which also aims to provide the complete information to the school children so that they could understand the project and could spread word about Saanjh in their neighborhood. For achieving this aim, seminars are organised in different schools to create awareness among the masses about the Right to Service Act and various kinds of legal services provided at Police Saanjh Kendras.

Senior Superintendents of Police in different district presides over the Saanjh committee meetings to lay emphasis to make the public aware of the services provided at these Kendras. The committee members aim to contact more and more people and drive word of the services to home and facilities provided to them with in a time frame to bring police and public closer.

This novel initiative of Saanjh Kendras is proving to be an anchor of harmony and camaraderie in the state.