Near reeking landfill in Delhi’s Ghazipur, why this police station is ranked among best in country

“The air reeks. We got the air purifiers cleaned, and the filters were black,” an officer said. He said he had served in Ghazipur for two years, adding that it’s a health hazard to stay in the area for more than six months.

Yet, Ghazipur police station is one of the country’s most effective, according to the Union Home Ministry — ranked among the top three in this year’s Annual Ranking of Police Stations.

Home Minister Amit Shah will felicitate Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Upadhyay Bala Shankaram at the 60th conference of directors general (DGPs) and inspectors general (IGPs) of police that begins in Raipur on Friday.

Over the past two years, the station has beaten malodorous odds to report striking improvements in its working. Officers said the number of pending cases has more than halved to about 350 now from 600-odd at the beginning of this year — and the number of personnel at the station has gone up from 110 to about 135, with three Inspectors including the SHO.

“When I came here, even the entrance to the station was blocked — both the compound and the road outside were filled with seized vehicles. We moved the vehicles to an abandoned plot nearby,” the officer quoted above said.

Eight of the nine cases of murder registered at the station so far this year have been solved, officers said. “This is significant because many of these cases are from Khoda Colony,” said the officer who investigated the year’s first murder in January.

Khoda Colony — a maze of shanties and unauthorised structures with no clear addresses and many ‘dark’ spots that lies partly in Delhi and partly in Ghaziabad — is considered notoriously difficult to police. “It is tough to find anyone in Khoda Colony, let alone a murderer who does not want to be found,” the officer said.

The inside of the police station is clean, and the general atmosphere appears to be citizen-friendly. Several complainants wait at the desks of the duty officer and at the women’s help desk.

“We are the first point of contact for citizens. Not everyone comes with a grievance; many come because they don’t know where to go,” the Sub-Inspector at the help desk said.

The Home Ministry ranks police stations based on criteria including crime prevention, detection and investigation, disposal of cases, community policing, infrastructure and cleanliness, response to complaints by women, and feedback from citizens.

The invitation to SHO Bala Shankaram says the Ministry has “selected Ghazipur PS, East District, Delhi, among the best three Police Stations in the country for the year 2025”, and that the Home Minister will “personally hand over the Trophy to the SHO of the PS on November 28, 2025… at Indian Institute of Management/ IIM, Raipur”.

It is possible the reduction of pendency at Ghazipur is at least partly due to the new criminal law framework, in which it is mandatory to file the chargesheet in 60-90 days of the registration of the FIR.

But personnel at the station insist that the commitment and personal initiative by the team led by Inspector Bala Shankaram has been key to the success that the objective, detailed process of evaluation by the Home Ministry has recognised.