Chandigarh, Dec. 11 -- Ahead of the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections on December 14, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on Wednesday said 44,000 cops will be deployed in rural areas to ensure free, fair and peaceful polls in the state. Emphasising the need to build a positive environment in state, DGP directed all police officers to ensure professional policing and strict adherence to all aspects of Model Code of Conduct. Giving more details, special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla, who had chaired virtual meeting with CPs/SSPs and range DIGs of the state, said security had been beefed up across the state and field officers had been asked muster at least 75% police force from districts for deployment during elections. All CPs/SSPs have been asked to deploy strong inter-state and inter-district nakas to keep vigil around the anti-social elements and carry out flag marches in their jurisdictions to build confidence among the general public, he said, while adding that DGPs of neighbouring states had also been requested to install nakas on their side of the border with Punjab. He said as many as 18,718 polling booths had been set up at 13,395 polling stations, of which, 860 had been identified as hyper-sensitive and 3,405 as sensitive polling stations.htc...