Two recent incidents have exposed the state of policing in Himachal Pradesh. When the entire country is reeling from the affects of the Mumbai terror attacks and the police is supposed to be on high alert, policemen in Himachal Pradesh still do not understand the seriousness of the situation.
In the first incident, 6 Nepalis were caught at Chandigarh, Sector-17 bus station carrying 12 gelatin sticks, 6 detonators, 2 Nobel D-Gel sticks and seven meter of fuse wire in the early morning hours on December 9. These people had traveled from Rohru in Shimla district and were headed to Uttrakhand. They traveled virtually unchecked a distance of 220 km in HRTC buses inside Himachal Pradesh. Nowhere there was any form of checking Had it not been for CRPF personals manning the sector-17 bus station these people would have left for their destination. Policing in Himachal Pradesh is the most cushy job. Unless there is a VIP duty with a minister coming in late, police stations are closed by 6 pm. In the recent past, Shimla had have a spate of day light burglaries. Numerous cars have been stolen from Shimla roads since there is no patrolling by the police after dark. Places like Main bus station, Sanjouli, Totu, Baleuganj are ruled by goonda elements in the night and there is hardly any security worth it’s name for the common man. Police gets into action mode only after any incident occurs. Till now Shimla has been free of any major criminal and terrorist activity but for how long? With such a lax security set up, criminals and terrorists can strike any time.
In the second incident, which has been kept away from major newspapers, a person was arrested by the Punjab Police from the Kotkhai area of Shimla district who had made this village a base for printing fake currency. A printer and computer was confiscated by the Punjab Police in it’s raid as has been reported in some Hindi dailies. This person was staying here as a surveyor of a electricity company for three months. Himachal Police was not aware of the raid done by Punjab Police. Now the police here has been dismissing the whole operation by Punjab Police as a hog wash. Kotkhai happens to be the constituency of a high profile minister in the present government and the police is probably hushing up the entire case. It has been reported that the accused here used to leave his keys with the owner of the house while going out and have meals at the owner’s house. How could the accused choose such far off place for his operation without the involvement of any local person cannot be dismissed.
Liquor mafia still rules the state. Only the names have changed after the present government took over. The activities are the same. Drug mafia is operating rampantly in the entire state. If an ordinary citizen can see all these things why can’t the police?? These are dangerous signals and a warning of the times to come. Unless the police starts some serious policing Himachal is not going to be safe. The police has to come out of the chor-sipahi mode of policing.
Posts
