VIJAYAWADA COMMISSIONERATE spreads its wings

The Andhra Pradesh government is actively considering the proposal to expand the Vijayawada Police Commissionerate to suit the needs of the State’s new capital. The Vijayawada Commissionerate is currently limited to the city and parts of Krishna district like Ibrahimpatnam towards Hyderabad, Gannavaram towards Eluru and Mantada towards Machilipatnam. With the new capital likely to be located between Vijayawada and Guntur, the government now wants to expand the commissionerate’s jurisdiction to Guntur across the river Krishna.

• Proposal to extend jurisdiction of the Commissionerate up to Amaravathi in the south and Tenali in the north
• This will cover Guntur urban, rural and Mangalagiri circles
• AP government had already upgraded the rank of the Police Commissioner to Additional Director General and posted AB Venkateswara Rao a couple of months ago

The expansion of the Police Commissionerate might begin early, but the office of the DGP would come only after the Chief Minister shifts and when the capital is completely shifted - JV Ramudu, DGP

The initial proposal, according to sources, was to merge the Guntur Urban Police Commissionerate which included Guntur and Pedakakani, Mangalagiri and Tadepalli towards Vijayawada, besides Tadikonda, Medikonduru, Chebrolu, Nallapadu, Vatticherukuru and Prathipadu police stations on the other side of the Guntur town. While the proposal included retaining all police stations along the national highway between Guntur and Vijayawada, besides Tadikonda, the government wants to extend the jurisdiction up to Amaravathi in the south and Tenali on the northern side of the national highway. This would cover Guntur urban, rural and Mangalagiri circles, leaving the Chebrolu circle to the Guntur district police.

Though these areas were not merged with the Vijayawada Police Commissionerate, the government had already upgraded the rank of the Police Commissioner to that of the Additional Director General and had posted AB Venkateswara Rao a couple of months ago. With plans to begin the capital works soon, the government wants to expand the Commissionerate first.

The Director General of Police JV Ramudu, who camped in the city for couple of days this week held a review with senior police officers on the expansion of the Commissionerate and had taken the views of the City Police Commissioner and the Guntur urban district superintendent.

However, when asked about expansion of the Vijayawada Police Commissionerate and location of the DGP office, Ramudu said that the department would decide on these issues only when the government decides on the capital location.

“The expansion of the Police Commissionerate might begin early, but the office of the DGP would come only after the Chief Minister shifts and when the capital is completely shifted,” the DGP noted.