Thiruvananthapuram, July 11 : In a first of its kind in the country, a Kerala police station got certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

This unique recognition has been given to the Arthunkal Police Station in Alappuzha district.

It was through a two stage audit that this recognition was given and it included a quality and risk management standards were established and then verified.

The efficiency in law and order management, crime investigation, implementation of modern practices in disposal of complaints, basic amenities in police stations, and conduct of police officers were among the other yardsticks considered for awarding the certification.

The certificate was handed over by Praveen Khanna, Deputy Director General Southern (DDGS) Region, BIS, in the presence of State police chief Ravada A Chandrashekar, H Venkatesh, ADGP L&O, IG South Zone and other top State police officials.

This recognition came as part of the ongoing Modernised Cherthala Police Programme initiated by ASP Cherthala Harish Jain, IPS.

Through this, it successfully was able to hugely improve the station's performance in the areas of crime prevention, investigation, maintenance of law and order, traffic management, emergency response, judicial coordination, and public grievance redressal.

These functions were found to have been carried out in accordance with the Indian legal framework, government policies, and directives, with a strong emphasis on efficiency, transparency, and public satisfaction within the jurisdiction of Arthunkal Police Station.

Incidentally, this huge recognition to a Kerala Police station has come at a time when the opposition parties, the Congress-led UDF and the BJP, have raised grave issues about the worsening law and order situation in the state.

The Kerala Police's actions on the shutdown observed in the state on Wednesday came under huge flak.

Across the state, the striking Unions, mostly the trade union wing of the ruling CPI-M, had gone on a rampage, threatening shopkeepers, offices and establishments which decided to open on Wednesday, and none were able to resist the threats unleashed by them.

On Tuesday, the police remained a mute witness when the student wing of the CPI-M-SFI activists was seen beating up police officials who tried to prevent them from creating trouble inside the Kerala University campus.

/IANS