In a jibe at the bureaucracy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Wednesday said IPS officers were earlier “suppressed” by IAS officers, buried in files, in such a way that the files would never be opened.

“Yaani Yamraj bhi aa jaye to IAS se file khulwana kathin hi ho jaat hai. Yahi hota tha. Wo khulti hi nahi thi… pata nahi kahan wo padi rahti thi (In other words, even if Yamaraj comes, it is difficult to get a file opened by an IAS officer. That used to be the situation. The files were never opened… no one knew where they were kept),” he said.

The CM made the remarks while referring to the Police Commissionerate system in Uttar Pradesh at an event to distribute appointment letters to newly recruited computer operators in the UP Police.

He said the system had been under consideration since 1972 but no one “dared to bring it into existence”. “I have enforced the commissionerate system in seven districts. This is part of police reform. Those who do not know about police reform raise their fingers at the commissionerate system.”

Under the commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure, is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government. The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing.

The CP is drawn from the Deputy Inspector General rank or above, and is assisted by Special/Joint/Additional/Deputy Commissioners.

On police recruitment, the CM said that earlier, police training centres in UP had the capacity to train up to 3,000 policemen only. “In 2017, we had to rely on training centres of the military and para-military in other states to train our policemen.”

Now, he said, the centres available have been developed with enough capacity to accommodate and conduct the training of thousands of policemen.

He also addressed the issue of police officers making social media reels on duty.

Stating that the government expects from the policemen efficiency in performing the duty, Adityanath said, “We often see policemen making reels during duty hours. This is indiscipline. We have to be alert towards our duty instead of making reels. We should not do such an activity which makes us an object of mockery. Fingers are raised at the system,” he added.