Gurdaspur Diary: Tough challenges await new district police chief

April 1 is All Fools’ Day. When word started spreading like wildfire that the city had a new SSP, nobody was willing to believe it, for obvious reasons. Nanak Singh was on his way out while SSP Harjit Singh was the new man in. On the very first day he joined, he came up against a wall. The first thing his subordinates told the SSP was that a four-year-old girl studying in a prominent school had been raped. The officer was told that the victim’s kin had blocked the strategically important Amritsar-Gurdaspur National Highway. The jam went on for nearly 10 hours. VIPs and tourists arriving at the Amritsar airport from New Delhi and making their way to the cool climes of J&K via Batala, Gurdaspur and Pathankot found themselves stranded. And that too in the scorching heat. Both DC Mohammad Ishfaq and Harjit Singh were put under sustained pressure by the powers-that-be to get the highway reopened. The officers made a dash to the site where the kin were holding a protest and tried to convince them about the futility of blocking the road.

However, the protestors were not willing to lend an ear till their main demand of arresting the owner of the school was met with. The problem was indeed a knotty one and even as things were getting from bad to worse, SSP Singh achieved a breakthrough. Finally, after a ten hour long blockade, the highway was opened to traffic. Round one had gone to the SSP. A day later, he was faced with yet another predicament. Four people had been killed in Phulra village on the Gurdaspur-Hoshiarpur border following a dispute over a tract of agricultural land. The situation was again getting out of hand till a visit by the SSP to Phulra assuaged the feelings of the deceased’s relatives. The officer should know this is just the tip of the iceberg. Gurdaspur is a border district and heroin is smuggled from across the border with impunity. This drug then makes its way to Delhi, Rajasthan and Goa where it is consumed in rave parties. To stop the flow of heroin into India will be the biggest responsibility of Harjit Singh. Very often, the BSF confiscates large quantities of the drug which is later handed over to the police to be destroyed. Sources reveal that for every kg of heroin seized, 5-kg flows into the country. This may well turn out to be an insurmountable task for the SSP. Several of his predecessors have tried their hand at curbing the malaise but to no avail. Then there is the problem of putting a full stop to robberies and looting. Hilarious it may sound but nevertheless it is true. On Friday, thieves barged into the house of a SP rank officer and managed to steal a motorcycle. Now, residents argue if the cops themselves are not safe, how can they be? The police need policing. While still on Phulra village, DC Ishfaq visited the houses of the people killed in the cross-firing. The irate kin wanted the DC to hold a probe into the sequence of events leading to the crime. The DC agreed and now things have been settled. Ishfaq has been around for quite some time now. Residents have taken a liking for this hard working, no-nonsense officer. His subordinates often complain that he neither sleeps nor lets them sleep. The grapevine has it that some DC’s may be shifted in this month itself. And if Ishfaq goes, it will not augur well for the locals. Neither will it bode well for the development of this district.

Halqa in charges: Pot calling the kettle black

When the AAP was out of power, it was highly vociferous about political parties appointing halqa incharges in Assembly seats where the party’s candidates had lost. Now flip the coin. AAP itself has become the villain of the piece by appointing such area chiefs in five Assembly seats of this district. By going back on its word it has made a laughing stock of itself. The AAP candidates who lost have been given the responsibility of managing the administrative and civic affairs of the respective seats from where they were forced to bite the dust. This means they still rule despite losing the mandate. Congress MLAs of the district are up in arms against these appointments. So are the leaders of SAD and BJP. What is conveniently forgotten is the fact that these very parties had resorted to such appointments when their parties were in power. Now, they are blaming AAP. As you sow, so shall you reap! Or is it a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

Area has a welcome respite from drones

It has been a long time ever since a drone was spotted in this border district. Such sightings were normal in the days leading to the assembly elections. On many an occasion, Pakistan used these contraptions to drop deadly ‘lunch boxes’ near schools and weapons and drug packets in agricultural fields following which the BSF and the police had their hands full. The police districts of Gurdaspur, Batala and Pathankot used to be put on high alert moments after such flying machines were seen in the air. For reasons best known to their handlers sitting across the border, the drones have stopped visiting the Indian skies. And that is a good sign. The development gives much respite to the cops and the residents alike. The locals were put to a lot of inconvenience whenever the cities were put on an alert. Or is it a lull before the storm?

(Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal)

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