Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastgir disclosed on Friday that Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate 29 model police stations in Mianwali on Saturday (today) that have been upgraded on modern lines to put an end to decades-old "thana culture" across Punjab under the "Special Initiative of Police Stations".

The IG revealed this while examining preparation and security arrangements for the arrival of the premier during a video-link conference at the central police office (CPO).

AIG Logistics Ghulam Rasul Zahid, DIG Logistics Faisal Ali Rana, DIG IT Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, AIG Operations Imran Kishwar, AIG Development Hassan Iqbal and other senior police officers also attended the meeting.

"As per the vision of prime minister, protection of people and their lives is among the top priorities of the Punjab police. In this regard, modern technology and smart ideas based-model police stations - special initiative of police stations (SIPS) - will provide quick relief to the citizens and will change the "thana culture". It will also strengthen the trust level between public and police," the IG expressed.

Under the initiative, Dastgir said that 50 police stations are being upgraded in different districts of Punjab, adding that steps will be taken to further improve the working of the police stations. He asked the senior officers to complete work on under process 21 police stations in other districts within the given deadline.

AIG Development Hassan Iqbal told the participants that in the first phase, 29 police stations including Mianwali district have been upgraded to SIPS through which easy and quick provision of facilities would be ensured for the citizens.

Shedding light on the project, the AIG said that the building of model police stations has been divided into two parts with effective use of modern technology. On the front side, police "Khidmat Markaz" (facilitation desks) type modern technology-based counters and waiting rooms have been established where services and facilities would be offered to the citizens through a token system, he added.

Similarly, DRC/committee room, SHO room and front desks have also been setup on the front part of the police stations whereas the rooms for "moharrirs", investigation officers, monitoring and operational works as well as lockups were established on the back side where the officials will conduct investigations, inquiries and other routine work. "With the issuance of computerised tokens, the reference and VIP culture will end," the AIG hoped.