Phillaur: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today announced an annual grant of Rs two crore for advanced training of police personnel of all ranks in the state to empower them to meet challenges of modern policing.

Addressing a batch of new recruits of 18 deputy SPs and 494 SIs - the largest group of directly recruited officials in these ranks - at the police academy here, Singh expressed pleasure on seeing a large number of women - 196 in all - among the probationers.

Extending his wishes, Singh expressed confidence that the recruits would contribute significantly to further strengthening the capabilities of the Punjab Police.

Earlier today, he inspected a parade by the new recruits. Singh said he was impressed with the parade and the drill, which he described as essential in view of the changing needs of policing.

He stressed the importance of inculcating electronic and IT skills among the force personnel, noting that criminals today were adopting technology in a big way to evade the law.

The chief minister recalled that his father passed out from the academy nearly 100-years ago, while the parade had also revived memories of his own training at the NDA in 1963.

Singh said there was a decline in the number of sacrilege cases and heinous crimes in the state. He congratulated the force for these achievements, in particular their success in solving the cases of targeted killings and hate crimes.

With this, he pointed out, the police had successfully foiled a major bid by the spy agency ISI and their operatives based in Pakistan to revive terrorism in Punjab.

Referring to the historic Phillaur Fort, he congratulated the Punjab Police Academy for preserving the monument and announced a grant of Rs three crore for its restoration. Singh conferred one Police Medal for gallantry.

He also presented President's Police Medals for distinguished services to seven officers, including, Director Vigilance BK Uppal, IG Gurpreet Deo, DIG Ranbeer Khatra, Additional IG Arun Saini and Addl DG Rohit Chaudhry.

In addition, 59 Police medals for meritorious services were presented to 3 ADGPs, 2 IGPs, 2 DIGs, 12 SSPs/Commandants/DCP/AIG, 1 DSP, 18 Inspectors, 14 Sub Inspectors, 14 ASIs and a Head Constable.

Later, the chief minister told reporters that he was in favour of naming the Mohali airport as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Airport.

In response to a question, Singh said the Maur blast investigation was in advanced stage. The findings would be made public once the case is solved, he added.  PTI