Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday inaugurated the "Service Desk" at each of the 659 police stations across the country to better serve the women, children, elderly and disabled people.
She also handed over 400 houses built by the police for homeless families during a ceremony from her official residence Ganabhaban marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Referring to Bangabandhu’s remark that police should be a pro-people force, she said the two initiatives mark the work of pro-people police.
The prime minister asked all the police personnel to render services at the grassroots so the masses can trust the police force about getting services from the law enforcers whenever they want.
The program was held at Dhaka Metropolitan Police Lines, Rajarbagh, Dhaka, while all the police stations, police ranges and police lines were connected to it virtually.
The prime minister thanked all concerned for the initiatives, saying: "Today is a special day as the service desks at each police station was opened for women, children, elderly and differently-abled people and houses built by police were provided to the homeless."
Sheikh Hasina also exchanged views with some service receivers from the service desk, women police personnel who are providing the service and beneficiary people who got the police houses, connected remotely from different parts of the country including Chittagong, Peerganj of Rangpur and Khulna.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Senior Secretary of Public Security Division at Home Ministry Md Akhter Hossain spoke on the occasion while Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Benazir Ahmed gave the welcome address.
An audio-visual documentary on the two humanitarian initiatives of police was screened at the function.
For opening the "Service Desk", a separate room has been arranged at each of the police stations. A specially trained woman sub-inspector will lead the desk with other skilled female officers.
The desks are also entrusted with informing visitors about other government services and providing legal aid to the victims who are financially insolvent.
Police are set to build one house in 520 police stations each across the country for the homeless people. In the first phase, police distributed 400 houses, which were built with standard modern construction materials, and are earthquake and heat resistant.
