Kolkata: Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, who heads the state home department, paid a surprise visit to police stations and the fire brigade headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.Adhikari was at the PWD camp, from where he was supposed to head to his residence in Chinar Park. Instead, his convoy turned towards south Kolkata and stopped at the Watgunge Police Station, located in the CM’s Assembly constituency, Bhowanipore, and later, at the Ekbalpore police station.The CM inspected almost everything—from basic infrastructure, such as fire extinguisher cylinders and cleanliness of the two places, to response and the condition of the lock-ups. He went through the official records, asked about the functioning of the police stations, including the women’s help desk, and enquired about the woman cops’ duty schedules. fAt Watgunge PS, Adhikari went through the complaint files and asked on-duty officers about the action taken in each complaint. “You have to take action, not just record complaints,” He told an officer even as he flipped through the files and examined the register.From Watgunge PS, the chief minister visited the Ekbalpore Police Station, where he made similar inquiries. He reviewed the station’s infrastructure, the action taken on various complaints and also spoke with officers before leaving. Later, while at Alipore Police Lines, he was informed about an early-morning fire at a plastic warehouse near Nandaram Market in Burrabazar and Adhikari immediately enquired into the matter from there.The next stop was the state fire and emergency services headquarters on Mirza Ghalib Street, where Adhikari went, accompanied by additional chief secretary Khalil Ahmed. As he reviewed the operational readiness of the fire station HQ, the chief minister was joined by senior officials, including fire services director general Anuj Sharma. The CM, claimed an officer, discussed the possible ways of the fire brigade improving their response time to a fire, especially in congested places.After becoming the chief minister, Adhikari had announced women’s help centres at every police station. He has started to check how far this has been implemented so far.An administrative official said Adhikari might carry out similar surprise visits to other police stations soon.
