New traffic police office soon to curb congestion on Ahmednagar & Solapur highways: Pune CP

Pune: Commissioner of police of Pune Amitabh Gupta on Tuesday said a new traffic police office would be opened soon in rural Pune to address the complaints related to congestion on the highways connecting Ahmednagar and Solapur.
Gupta’s statement came in the wake of the state government merging the Lonikand and Loni Kalbhor police stations in the Pune police commissionerate on Monday midnight.
The Pune commissioner of police (CP) told TOI, “We shall be opening a new crime branch and special branch offices in two months’ time. We shall also launch four beat systems each to intensify patrolling in the 44 villages coming under the two police stations.”
He said, “We shall provide additional manpower and offer the services to residents on a par with that in Pune. The police stations will become fully functional on a par with those in Pune.”
After the merger, the total number of police stations in the Pune police commissionerate has increased to 32 from the existing 30. Plans are afoot to start seven new police stations in the city.
The Lonikand police station would be assigned to assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Yerawada division, under the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Zone IV. The Loni Kalbhor police station would be assigned to ACP, Hadapsar division, under the DCP, Zone V.
Additional commissioner of police (administration) Jalindar Supekar said, “We are assessing the crime rate, law and order situation and the manpower required at the police stations. We shall be providing wireless communication, walkie talkie sets, vehicles and other facilities to policemen.”
DCP (Zone IV) Pankaj Deshmukh said, “Wagholi, linking Kharadi, is one of the most important suburbs under the Lonikand police because it has witnessed rapid urbanisation. We shall be providing a lot of resources for improving services to people residing in 23 villages there. We are planning to start four to five police outposts for catering to the growing needs of people.”
DCP (Zone V) Namrata Patil said, “The 21 villages, including Uruli Kanchan coming under the Loni Kalbhor police, was merged in the jurisdiction of the Pune police. Plans are on the cards to de-merge Uruli Kanchan because it is a hardcore rural area in the due course of time.”
She said, “Loni Kalbhor, linking Hadapsar, is known for rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, increase in population and rise in crime. We have two police outposts and we plan to reduce the response time of police to help people in distress.”
Graphics
HL: FRESH EQUATIONS
The Lonikand police station, spread over 241.69sqkm, was carved out from the Loni Kalbhor police, earlier under the Pune rural police
The jurisdiction of Loni Kalbhor police, now under the Pune police commissionerate, was spread over 347sqkm
The merger of Lonikand and Loni Kalbhor police stations has increased the jurisdiction of the Pune police from the existing 529sqkm to 1,017.69sqkm
KEY NUMBERS
Police station Number
Lonikand 9527069100
Loni Kalbhor 020-26913260