Dhaka Metro Rail: DMP to ensure security until dedicated force formed
Dhaka Metropolitan Police will ensure security at the country's first metro rail, set to be inaugurated on Wednesday, until a dedicated force is available.
The DMP, however, said it may be difficult for it to provide security "for too long".
The Cabinet Division will hold a meeting in this regard today, and a proposed organogram for an Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) police force will be placed there, officials said.
MAN Siddique, managing director of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), the implementing and operating agency of the metro rail projects, said they hope the 357-post organogram would be approved at the meeting.
"After completing other necessary processes, they will get the force within a month," he told this newspaper yesterday.
However, a top official of the Police Headquarters said it may take some more time to make the dedicated force functional.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Uttara-Agargaon section of the metro rail on Wednesday. It will be open to commuters the following day.
In December 2018, the road transport and bridges ministry sent a letter to the home ministry requesting the formation of a separate MRT police unit to ensure safety and security of the metro rail networks.
Although, the PHQ proposed a 1039-post organogram, the home ministry approved 357 posts for the force with a deputy inspector general of police as its chief.
The PM in September 2019 had also given a directive to form a separate and specialised MRT police force.
Following that, the home ministry's Public Security Division sent a proposal to the Cabinet Division to create 357 posts for the force.
Faruk Ahammed, an additional deputy inspector general (organisation & management) of the PHQ, told The Daily Star yesterday that once the organogram is approved by the Cabinet Division, the proposal has to be approved by the prime minister to be functional.
When the proposal was pending, metro rail authorities wrote to the DMP to provide necessary security measures for metro rail, a DMTCL official said.
Speaking to The Daily Star yesterday, DMP Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said, "We have received a letter … We have already taken measures to ensure security for the metro rail as a major key-point installment.
"But it will be easier for us to ensure proper security if the proposal to form the MRT police force is approved soon."
AKM Hafiz Akter, additional commissioner (crime and operations) of the DMP, said, "We have to provide security for programmes in the city every day. A permanent deployment will be needed for the metro rail security.
"It will be difficult for us to ensure a permanent deployment while also providing regular security for programmes. We have spoken to the Police Headquarters in this regard."
About this, MAN Siddique said they hoped the specialised MRT security will come into force within a month and so they may not require the police support from the DMP for long.
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