The proposed Citizen Facilitation Centres (CFCs) will be set up in all the 499 police stations in the state under the Centre’s Modernisation of Police Force (MPF) scheme.

“The Centre has approved the Rs 7.5-crore project of establishing CFCs, work on which will start by next month. We propose to cover all the 499 police stations in the state by December this year,” said H N Patel, DIG, Planning and Modernisation.

The proposed centres will be set up in the Police Station Officer (PSO) rooms of the various police stations.

“If the PSO room is not spacious enough, the CFCs will be set up in some other room of the police station,” Patel added.

The state Police Department proposes to spend about Rs 1.5 lakh on each CFC. The money would be spent on buying comfortable couches, water coolers, television sets, artefacts and display materials for the visitors’ room. “Some portion of this money will also be utilised for setting up better reception centres near the CFCs in the police stations,” Patel said.

The project is part of the on-going drive to do an image makeover of the police in the state.

The aim is to bridge the gap between the police and the public and lessen inconvenience faced by those who visit a police station either to lodge a complaint or for some other reasons.

According to sources, each police station will be sanctioned money for setting up a CFC by August this year. While respective SPs will supervise the work in districts, city police commissioners will be in charge of CFCs in the major cities.

As per rules of the MPF scheme, 75 per cent of the total expenditure for setting up CFCs in the state will be borne by the Central government, while the remaining 25 per cent will be contributed by the state.