‘I do not buckle under pressure, take action on merit’

How important do you think is 'sifarish', jaan-pehchan or a phone call by a political leader to get routine work done in the police department?

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Building relationships with people plays an important role in our society and ‘sifarish’ is omnipresent— the police department is no different. It is common knowledge that ‘sifarish’ plays a big role in getting any work done. It is up to an officer how he deals with ‘sifarish’. I never buckle under pressure or any obligation. I take action purely on merit.

People are dying in road accidents on a daily basis but nothing is being done to curb the menace as action is taken only against traffic rule violators, who don't have 'sifarish'. What is your take on it?

Not doing anything is erroneous. We are actually working hard to streamline traffic in the city. We have successfully reduced the traffic bottlenecks by reducing travel time by 1.7 minutes on four roads—ITI Chowk to Rose Garden, Hanuman Chowk to Bibiwala Chowk, Bibiwala Chowk to Rose Garden and Hanuman Chowk to Railway Station. This survey has been done under my supervision by the Bathinda police. Also, I never received even a single call in the last nearly one-year tenure to help traffic violators!

But despite that, there is no respite from the deaths caused in road accidents!

We have divided the city into four zones and each zone is headed by a supervisory officer who has been provided with a special bike. After identifying 23 points in the city—including T-points and roundabouts—we are focusing our attention on three primary things—triple riding, jumping traffic lights and vehicles without number plates. The traffic police have also started using alcometers twice a week to award heavy penalties to those who drive under the influence of liquor.

The police still appear to be in the dark when it comes to reducing road accidents as there is a great difference between the theoretical and practical aspects?

Believing anything with a pre-conceived mindset is a conceptual laxity! We are indeed burning the midnight oil to reduce road accidents and the police cannot do everything alone in this regard. Community, parents, society and senior citizens play a major role in curbing this menace. 

What is the percentage of police role in reducing road accidents?

33 per cent! We are living in a civilised society and can’t use an iron fist in this regard. Society and road engineering play an equal role (33%) in increasing road accidents.

What is being done to reduce the drug menace?

We have done a lot in this regard during the past one year. We have adopted a four-pronged approach which proved to be instrumental in increasing the conviction rate of peddlers. This includes arrest of drug peddlers, creating deterrent effect, preparing a list of chronic drug peddlers and monitoring the movement of prisoners held under the NDPS Act, for one month after their release.

How does this approach actually help in reducing the drug menace?

Now, we have a list of all drug peddlers booked at each police station of the district to keep a close watch on their activities. We make constant phone calls to them and if they change their cell number, then we ask them to mark their attendance at the police station every ten days. We have also told habitual offenders not to leave the district without informing the police. 

What is the total number of such drug peddlers in the district and how does the four-pronged strategy work?

We have up to 70 chronic drug peddlers in each of the 19 police stations of Bathinda district. Apart from six in surrounding districts of Punjab, we also keep a tab on three neighbouring districts of Haryana to check the drug menace. Apart from attaching property, made from ill-gotten money, we have launched an Ubharta Bathinda programme in which awareness campaigns are being initiated aggressively. Around 600 quintal of seized poppy husk was burnt recently. Around six quintal of opium, lying in our maalkhana (property room) since 1989, has also been destroyed.

There is no respite from theft incidents and now people are holding protests against the incidents of house-breaking.

If we go by the actual facts and figures, as compared to the previous year, theft incidents have reduced by 40 per cent and car snatching incidents have come down by 80 per cent. Only three incidents were reported in which cars were forcefully taken away this year and all were traced. Snatching incidents have reduced by more than 90 per cent.

Bathinda has witnessed a spate of incidents involving hard-core criminals resorting to firing and creating panic in the city. What is your view on gangsters with political patronage operating in the city?

No gangster has any kind of political patronage. There are three to four gangs involved in heinous crimes and they all are behind  bars.