The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed IPS officer Laxmi Singh as the new Noida Police chief, making her the first woman officer to head a Police Commissionerate in the state.


The 2000-batch officer, who replaced Alok Singh in Gautam Buddh Nagar, is expected to take charge on Wednesday.  The UP government late Monday night issued a transfer and posting list of 16 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in the state, including for the new Commissionrates of Varanasi, Agra and Prayagraj.


The state at present has 7 police commissionerates, a policy structure created first in 2020.  Alok Singh, a 1995-batch IPS officer, has been posted as an additional director general of police (ADGP) at the DGP office in state capital Lucknow.


Laxmi, 48, has been serving as an Inspector General of Police, Lucknow range.


She holds the distinction of being the first woman IPS topper (33rd rank overall) in the UPSC-held exams and was adjudged the best probationer at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, as per official records.


She has also been awarded the PM's silver bation and the home minister's pistol during her training.


Holding a B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering, she had her first posting as senior superintendent of police in 2004.


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In 2013, she was promoted as a deputy IG and in 2018 she was promoted to the rank of IG.  Laxmi has previously served as the IG/DIG of the Special Task Force (STF) in Gautam Buddh Nagar from January 1, 2018 to March 5, 2018.  Thereafter, she was made IG of the police training school in Meerut from March 2018 to May 26 in 2020 before being moved as IG Range Lucknow.


A senior official who has worked with her told PTI that she maintains a personal diary of criminal incidents that take place in her jurisdiction.


The state government, last week, announced three new police commissionerates in three districts of Ghaziabad, Agra and Prayagraj. This was in addition to four existing ones in Lucknow, Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), Varanasi and Kanpur.  The commissionerates in Lucknow and Gautam Buddh Nagar were established in January 2020 while they were set up in Varanasi and Kanpur in March 2021.


The new Noida Police chief is married to BJP MLA from Sarojini Nagar seat in Lucknow and former ED officer Rajeshwar Singh.  Among other awards, Laxmi has received the Police Medal in 2016, UP DGP's silver and gold medals in 2020 and 2021.  She was last year honoured with the UP chief minister's excellence in service medal. 


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