6 police chowkis in Kangra being run from rented rooms

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, July 9

Six police chowkis in lower Kangra areas, adjoining the borders of Punjab, are yet to be notified by the authorities even after years of their establishment.

The chowkis also lack the requisite posts of police personnel. There are no permanent buildings and these are being run from local gram panchayat bhawans or rented rooms.

Chowkis at Kandwal, Gangath and Rehan, falling under the Nurpur police station, were established in November 2005, April 1995 and December 1997, respectively. Thakurdwara and Rey police chowkis, under the Fatehpur police station, were made functional in 1978 and December 2016, respectively, and Nagrota Surian police chowki, under the Jawali police station, was set up in 1993.

These chowkis were made functional without the requisite sanction by then state governments on verbal orders of higher-ups “following recommendations from local politicians”.

It has come to light that to run these “unauthorised” police chowkis, there is a practice of ‘time gap’ arrangement. The district police authorities shift staff from local police stations or the Police Lines, Dharamsala, to these chowkis.

The Kandwal police chowki, situated at the entry point of the state, speaks volumes about the sorry state of affairs. It is being run from a single room, which also houses a tourist information centre.

The area under this chowki, which connects Punjab and Himachal, is known for drug trafficking, illegal mining and an escape route for anti-social elements,

Following the demand of local MLA Rakesh Pathania, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, during his maiden visit here on March 3, had announced a new police chowki at Sadwan, near here. However, the process is still underway. Kangra SP Sanotsh Patial said he had written to the higher authorities for the regularisation of all unsanctioned police chowkis in Kangra district.