nThe much awaited state-of-the-art 17-storey building to house the integrated Delhi Police headquarters in Lutyens’ zone will be inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday on the birth anniversary of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. 

Though the police complex is proposed to have twin towers which are expected to be fully constructed in the next six months, it is being officially launched as the police headquarters and the office of the Delhi Police Commissioner will start functioning from the new location after the inauguration.

The new PHQ will also have the offices of the Joint CP ranges, Special CP.

According to a senior police officer, other offices that are scattered all over the city will be shifted  to the PHQ, however, offices of Special Cell, Crime Branch, Special Branch, Police Control Room and Communications will continue to function outside of the PHQ.

What is even more interesting is the fact despite being the police force of the national Capital, it took 71 years for the elite force of the country to get a dedicated building as its own HQ as it was housed in a Central Public Works Department building on Vikas Marg.

Interestingly the construction of the building was sanctioned in 1995 by the then Urban Development Minister Sheila Kaul. The fact that the building could be operationalised in the fag end of  2019, speaks a lot about the red tapism and impediments put by Delhi Urban Arts Commission. The 17-storey twin towers to house Delhi Police, has been hanging fire since 1995 despite its building plan being considered and  cleared by the Union Cabinet. The building was mired in many ifs and buts as Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) took ages to clear the project. It also resulted in cost escalation.

It would be pertinent to mention here that the Delhi Police had its headquarters in the borrowed premises of MSO building at Vikas Marg where it shares space with Public Works Department (PWD). The Delhi Police moved to MSO building in early eighties when the then Delhi Police Commissioner Preetam Singh Bhinder used his proximity to the powers to be, to get the permission.

Neeraj Kumar, the then Delhi Police Commissioner tried his best to get the work started at the Jai Singh Road where the construction of the PHQ building was sanctioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Urban Development Ministry. However, Ministry of Environment and Forests put spokes by denying clearance to the project that was to be completed in a time frame.

To make problem worse for the Delhi Police, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had rescinded his earlier decision and had refused to lay the foundation stone. Even then Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami and none of his officers came to Jai Singh Road in New Delhi district to take part in the ceremony. It was left to Gajendra Haldia, the Advisor to the Planning Commission to perform the bhoomi pujan.

The construction gained momentum after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government took over in 2014. “Now we can say that the Delhi Police has its own building to house the PHQ. Sharing space with PWD was obfuscating functioning as policing was somewhat impacted as sensitive meetings to deal with emergent law and order situation need secrecy. With the new building being made operational, it would be much easier to run the police administration”, said a senior police official who requested anonymity.

At the inauguration ceremony, four floors of the twin towers will be fully functional from Thursday and other floors will be subsequently handed over the Delhi Police, the official added.