Community-police partnership programme launched

Kathmandu / Oct 28: The “community-police partnership for peaceful and secure society’ programme was launched across the country today.

Local levels, community, social organisations and schools are its major partners. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa announced its inauguration amidst a programme in the capital city. As the Home Minister said partnership with the community was necessary to see a durable peace in the society.

Inaugurating the programme, he insisted that peace and security must be guaranteed to materialise the dream of a “prosperous Nepal and happy Nepali.”

Describing the moment a historic one in terms of building a peaceful and safe society, the Home Minister asserted that crime must be overcome to see a durable peace and good governance, terming it a barrier to all sorts of development and advancement. He was hopeful that the Nepal Police’s newly launched programme would help control crime.

Presenting the concept of the programme on the occasion, Inspector General of Police, Sarbendra Khanal, expressed his hope that the programme would be helpful in meeting the government’s target of a ‘prosperous Nepal and happy Nepali’ through the coordination among the community in the peace and security efforts.

Sole efforts from the police administration would not be sufficient to ensure peace and security, he viewed, appealing to the community for their active partnership and cooperation with the police towards that end.

On the occasion, Secretary at Home Ministry, Prem Kumar Rai, pointed out that peace and security and good governance were the first condition for a prosperous nation. He took a time to warn the Nepal Police to be highly careful to not let past mistakes reoccur.

Moreover, Secretary at Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya hailed that the programme to reach every village across the country was an effective mechanism, which could also be incorporated in the annual programme of the local levels.

Kathmandu Metropolis Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya hoped that that police-civil partnership would be effective to ensure peace and security.

As per the programme, the partnership mechanism would be built from central to the village levels. Control of crime, community safety and awareness, peace and security, school awareness, among others are included in the nationwide programme, according to IGP Khanal.

“The new campaign has made the local levels major partners for its sustainability,” he informed, adding that the school-focused programmes are in priority because the children and youths are prone to high risk of crime.

In the programme to be implemented in all 753 local levels, 10,000 social organizations, 7.5 million students, 36,000 schools, some half million teachers, 75,000 police personnel and four million guardians would be directly involved.

Chief District Officer is the coordinator in the district, while chiefs at local levels and police officers assigned by the District Police Office would serve as joint coordinators.

Moreover, the mechanism encompasses Federation of Nepali Journalists, National News Agency (RSS) and concerned stakeholders. RSS