Kolkata Police has introduced a structured grievance redressal system under the Bengal government’s “Apnar Sarkar Apnar Pashe” initiative, allowing residents to raise unresolved complaints with designated senior officers at divisional offices every Tuesday and Thursday.
The new arrangement is intended to address cases that remain unresolved after preliminary divisional inquiries, including complaints involving theft, cybercrime and delays in investigation. Joint commissioners and additional commissioners will inspect divisional offices during public hearing sessions and review cases considered complex or inadequately addressed at the initial stage.
Residents will not be required to travel to Lalbazar to seek meetings with senior officers. A police officer said the genuineness and importance of each case would determine whether a complainant is allowed to meet the senior officers directly. The system is also intended to give citizens a formal route to follow up on complaints that they believe have not received adequate attention.
Deputy commissioners across Kolkata Police divisions have been instructed to appoint an assistant commissioner as the dedicated nodal officer for the initiative. These officers will be relieved of other duties on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10.30 am to 1 pm, when their offices will remain open for citizens to lodge grievances, interact with officials and track the status of ongoing complaints.
The mechanism includes both digital and physical records. When a resident approaches a divisional office, the receiving officer will upload the complainant’s name, mobile number and grievance details to the central “Apnar Sarkar Apnar Pashe” portal. The same information will also be entered in a master register maintained at the venue, creating a paper trail and tracking reference for the complaint.
The police headquarters has established a multi-tier monitoring process to track follow-up. Assistant commissioners must submit daily action-taken reports to Lalbazar and the deputy commissioner of headquarters-II. Divisional deputy commissioners and joint commissioners will send daily figures on visitor footfall and complaints received, followed by a weekly summary every Friday to additional commissioner II.
The new process responds to complaints from citizens who say that cases such as theft or hurt take too long to investigate, or that the classification of a complaint can affect how it is processed. The system specifically places senior officers within the divisional structure rather than requiring residents to approach the city police headquarters for every escalation.
Lalbazar officers have also been instructed to remain free of routine administrative work during evening hours so that incoming reports and public follow-ups can be processed. A senior officer monitoring the project said periodic reviews would be conducted and checked by Nabanna, with modifications to be made as the system develops.
