Nepalgunj, June 17

About one fourth of the police units in the central region that were damaged or displaced during the conflict have been reconstructed with financial support from Peace Fund Secretariat under the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.

The district police office located in Ghorahi of Dang had been displaced after its building was damaged in an attack by Maoist rebels on November 23, 2001. The district police office was shifted to the headquarters about five years ago.

But due to lack of a good building to operate from the police office was facing a hard time performing its regular duties.

However, the problem was solved after a new building was constructed around six months ago. Following its construction with a fund of Rs 22.623 million, then IGP Upendrakanta Aryal had inaugurated it on December 24 last year.

DSP Prakashraj Sharma of the district police office said the new building had come as a huge relief. “It had been difficult to operate from a derelict building. Now that we have a new building, our efficiency has increased, and only a few cases of serious crimes are reported in Ghorahi these days,” he said.

Similarly, construction of a modern building for female police force on the premises of the Nepalgunj-based Mid-western regional police training centre was completed at the cost of Rs 23.2 million about a year ago. The building is equipped with a library and other amenities necessary for female police personnel attending the training with their kids.

Modern structures have also been built for Sulichaur and Holeri police units in Rolpa.

As many as 60 police units in 15 districts, including Banke, Bardia, Dailekh, Surkhet, Jajarkot, Dang, Salyan, Phyuthan, Rolpa, Rukum, and Jumla have received financial assistance for construction of physical infrastructures under the secretariat’s Access to Security Dimension programme. Of them, construction works for 53 units have already been completed.

Inspector Roshan Saru, chief of the Technical Support Team of the Reconstruction Department under the Mid-western Regional Police Office, said that of the total 425 police units in the region, 175 were completely damaged in the Maoist insurgency, and the rest 49 units were partially damaged.

“Of the damaged police units, 25 units under the Bheri Zonal Police Office, 19 under the Rapti Zonal Police Office, and 16 under Karnali Zonal Police Office have been reconstructed with support from the secretariat,” Saru said.

According to Monitoring & Evaluation Officer and Under Secretary at the secretariat Bedraj Phuyal, the secretariat so far has provided around Rs 683 million in financial assistance for four phases of the reconstruction of the police units in the region.