Chain snatchers, adamant motorcyclists beware! Amritsar police officers are on the prowl

In recent days, the police have embarked on the job of restoring the confidence of parents in the working of the police department and as part of this process, senior officers now visit public places, identify addicts and subsequently take them to de-addiction centres.

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“Earlier, the drug was available on the streets but suddenly it has disappeared. We are indeed relieved,” said Suresh Verma, a parent.

This concept has been initiated ever since the flights of drones carrying payloads of heroin coming in from across the international border (IB) have considerably subsided. Sources say this is the result of the anti-drone mechanism installed near the IB by Punjab Police recently. The other factor is that Post Operation Sindoor, the Pakistani state and non-state actors have decided to take things slowly till the war’s din dies down.

A man dressed in civvies, having the unmistakable gait of an officer, enters the main gate of Fish park-also called the city’s walkers paradise-late in the evening and starts mingling with the locals.

SSP Aditya is not on a fitness run; hence his walk is slow and steps measured. His primary aim is to talk to the walkers and elicit their views on how policing is going on.

Recently, he has volunteered to be the ‘Mentor’ of Gurdaspur Meritorious School. He regularly goes to the school on Batala road and delivers pep talks to students against drugs and on how to embark on a successful career. “I have taken up this assignment for two years,” he said.

This is an unprecedented development as leave alone an IPS officer, not even middle-rung officers had ever sauntered alone into a crowd to know what exactly is happening in the city. “In the last 15 years I have not seen an SSP rank officer discussing the city’s problems in public places like parks,” said Sushma Sharma, an expert who teaches yoga to women in the Fish Park.

Before the India-Pakistan hostilities started, drones carrying payloads of heroin regularly swarmed this border district due to which the availability of drugs was embarrassingly easy.

However, once the fighting ended on May 10 and the ceasefire came into force, these drones, too, stopped flying in from Pakistan. Officers say the recent arrests of several carriers, who pick up heroin packets from near the IB and deliver it to the big fish for further delivery, is one of the reasons why the drug is not available now.

“Nothing is more distressing and upsetting for parents to know their wards are on drugs. I have spoken to many parents and now we are jointly making efforts to send these youngsters to rehabilitation centres,” said SSP Aditya.

His walks, and those of other senior officers at different places of the town, have become the talk of the town.

Minutes after he stepped into the Fish-park, the SSP hears a loud sound originating from the motorcycle’s modified silencer.

His guards stop the two motorcycle-borne youngsters. The SSP, who reaches the spot, tells the boys that they will be challaned. One of the boys says he is related to a local ruling party leader. “Challan them and then let them cool their heels in the City police station,” he tells his guards as they quickly take away the boys and their bike.

The message is loud and clear that crime and criminals have no place in the town.

In fact, residents heaved a sigh of relief the day the police arrested Harvinder Soni, vice-president of the Punjab Shiv Sena (Thackeray) for misbehaving with policemen when they went to his house for some work. Locals were elated because Soni had been creating nuisance every now and then in the city.