Will work with other stakeholders to streamline traffic in Lucknow: Amrendra Kumar Sengar
The 54-year-old officer, born in Bihar’s Chapra, previously held the post of superintendent of police in nine different districts of Uttar Pradesh and DIG Range in Gorakhpur, Basti, Moradabad and Varanasi and Lucknow. He was also IG, Law and Order
Newly appointed Lucknow police commissioner Amrendra Kumar Sengar, a1995- batch Indian Police Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, on Sunday assumed official charge of the post.
The 54-year-old officer, born in Bihar’s Chapra, previously held the post of superintendent of police in nine different districts of Uttar Pradesh and DIG Range in Gorakhpur, Basti, Moradabad and Varanasi and Lucknow. He was also IG, Law and Order. Sengar, the fourth police commissioner after the Lucknow Police Commissionerate was formed in 2020, discussed the difficulties, his goals and ambitions for the state capital in an interview with Aakash Ghosh. Excerpts:
You said you want to address traffic challenges in the city. Could you be more specific about your plans?
Traffic is a significant subject in the city and efforts are already being made to effectively deal with it. My efforts will be to work in collaboration with other stakeholders such as other departments and the bordering districts. A road project is being constructed between Lucknow and Unnao for smooth flow of traffic. Unregulated e-rickshaws, vending zones and places where UPSTRC buses are being parked caused heavy traffic congestion. Moves have been taken for e-rickshaw regularization; similar efforts will be taken for other sources of traffic congestion. The decision has been taken at the government level as well. I would like to continue to work on the efforts of my predecessors. Help will be taken from the previous CP whenever there is a need.
What are your other focus areas?
Lucknow Police’s focus will also be to meet the challenges of solving cases through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS). The police personnel will be trained in cyber investigation techniques. Efforts will be made by making people aware.
Petty crimes seem to have gone up recently in the city. Your plan to tackle them?
We maintain registers, list of our past offenders. Monitoring is needed to check if they are out on bail or, if out, are they active or not. We will intensify the monitoring. If there is a new gang formation, help of surveillance and CCTV will be taken. Our manual and technical intelligence will also be used.
CCTV has proven to be a boon in solving cases. Any advancement you want to bring in?
Indeed. Operation Trinetra, an AI-based system, is already operational. Other AI-based techniques like GATE analytics (identification through movement), voice analytics will be intensified as they are helpful in identifying criminals when Facial Recognition system through CCTV fails as many a times as possible enough date CCTV footage to identify a criminal is not there.
Your take on woman safety?
The problems will be solved quickly by giving priority to crimes related to women…better understanding of various schemes and campaigns being run by the Uttar Pradesh government for women. Problems will be solved by making efforts for proper implementation.
How are Lucknow police planning to adapt to changes in criminal laws which are set to be replaced from July 1?
Several batches of cops are undergoing training in various multilevel stages.
The Training of Trainers (ToT) is also going on in the state. This model is intended to engage master trainers in coaching new trainers. They get the training and they come back to their districts to train others, especially those at the contingency level, mostly those who are into investigation like inspectors, sub- inspectors as they are the ones who need it most. A traffic cop need not necessarily undergo it, but it is important for investigating officers on the thana levels.
