LAHORE: The newly-established crime control department (CCD), Punjab, has completed the appointment processagainstallitsranksaftertheprovincial government reportedly released Rs5,563 million to make it fully functional.

The Punjab police department had requested the government for the funds required to run the administrative and financial affairs of the new force, which was also authorised to lodge first information reports (FIRs) and investigate the cases.

On the CCD`s request, the provincial cabinet had given approval on March 27 for the release of Rs2,781m, the 50 percent ofthe totalfundsrequired.

An official said that the CCD has been given Rs2,242m for the purchase of vehicles, Rs260m under the head of secret service expenditure, Rs752m for petroleum products, Rs72m for rent for office buildings, Rs75m for cost of investigation, Rs13m for the purchase of software, Rs14m for the purchase of furniture and fixture etc.

He said the rest of the amount has alsobeen released recently by the Punjab government to complete the infrastructure of the police buildings.

The CCD was established by promulgating an ordinance, amending the Police Order 2002, giving it the powers to register and investigate cases of heinous and serious crimes, mentioned in the Fourth Schedule.

Punjab CCD Additional IG Sohail Zafar Chattha told Dawn the new department was finally all set to discharge its core functions. `We have made all the appointments from district-level to senior ranks, established offices and all the 38 police stations across the province, he said.

He said a senior police officer, Waqasul Hassan, has been appointed as CCD DIG vigilance and internal accountability and Umar Salamat as DIG human resource and training.

The CCD was divided in three zones in Lahore, each headed by an officers of SP rank, he added.

At the district level, he said, the department was headed by a police officer of DSP rank.

However, he said, in some major city districts, most experienced and professional officers from the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) have been appointed asCCD heads.

To a question, Mr Chattha said that his department would mostly appoint PSP officers to dispel the impression that the CCD was being run by the rank officers only.Mr Chattha said the CCD would especially investigate the cases of unclaimed bodies of women, as crimes against women are the red line of the Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

He said the data of the incidents involving brutal murders of women and throwing their bodies in canals, ponds or rivers obtained by the CCD from all over Punjab has raised serious concerns.

Recently, he said, the CCD took up a case where a woman and her young daughter were kidnapped some three months back and their `unclaimed bodies` were found in Sheikhpura.

He assigned the task as a `test case` to the CCD Lahore, which finally traced the alleged killers and arrested them.

Similarly, he said, the number of missing children in Punjab was also alarmingly high and the CCD has been assigned such cases as well.

Additionally, the CCD would take up the cases of dacoity, murder by hired shooters, organisedburglary and kidnap for ransom.

`The CCD would also deal with allkinds of crime related to vehicle theft and snatching in Punjab`, he said.

Recently, the Punjab government also notified the 38 newly-established police stations of the CCD across the province, including three in Lahore, as the final step to make the new department fully functional.

According to a notification issued by the Punjab home department, the CCD will have three police stations in Lahore one each for city/Iqbal Town division, Civil Lines/Cantt divisions and Sadar/ Model Town divisions.

Similarly, one each CCD police station has been established in Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Gujranwala, Gujarat, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Attock, Jehlum, Chakwal, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Okara, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, DG Khan, Muzaffargarh, Layyah etc.

`In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 4(1)(s) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, the police stations in Crime Control Department (CCD) are hereby established,`reads the notification issued by the Punjab home department. The department has also notified the territorial jurisdictions of each CCD police station in Punjab.