Patna and Nalanda police stations to have petitioner response

All 116 police stations in Patna and Nalanda districts will have a petitioner response officers from now on, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Central Range, Patna, Rajesh Kumar, said Saturday.

According to the DIG, the petitioner response officers (PROs) will take prompt action on various types of complaints.

This has been done for quick redressal of grievances/complaints of victims/applicants, he said.

The PROs will start functioning from Saturday across all police stations in Patna and Nalanda districts, Rajesh Kumar said.

An order regarding this was issued on Friday to all superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police, sub-divisional police officers and station house officers of both the districts.

"The idea behind appointment of PRO at every police station is to provide a friendly environment to the victims and applicants coming to police station by giving them patient hearing followed by necessary, and quick action for redressal of their complaints," the DIG said.

"The PRO will offer a chair and a glass of water to the victims/applicants who would come to the police station with their grievances and listen to their complaints. The PRO would either note down a victim's complaint or help the victim in writing the complaint, he said.

Neither 'the 'munshi nor the 'chowkidar' of the police station will meet the complainant or complainants at any cost, Kumar added.

A PRO would also enter the name, address and mobile phone number of the applicants/victims in the register, he said, adding that the PRO, after taking lawful action on the complaints, would also make an entry into the register about victim's feedback - on how much they are satisfied with the PRO's work.

The applicant would give his or her feedback according to a grading system - very good, good and bad, Kumar said, adding, the PRO's performance would be reviewed on the basis of gradings given by victims or applicants.

Based on their performance, the PROs would either be rewarded or punished, the DIG said adding that he would personally monitor PROs work and would also conduct surprise inspections to see how they are functioning.

The DIG said he may also send his men, posing as common people, to a police station to check whether the PROs are properly discharging their duties or not.

The station house officers (SHO) of the police stations would depute, either a sub-inspector (SI) or an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), to function as as PROs, the DIG said.