With only two FIRs a month, this police station awaits NRI plaintiffs

Rachna Khaira

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 12

With an average rate of one to two FIRs lodged a month, the NRI (Urban) police station situated on the Old GT road wears a deserted look most of the time.

Though according to staff present there, the police station receives a huge NRI traffic flooded with complaints, a majority of these are received online and very rarely NRIs walk in to the police station situated in a corner on the first floor of the police station set up in division No. 5.

While the police station has received 103 complaints since January 1 this year, only 23 NRIs approached officials directly through emails or by walking into the police station. The officials received only two complaints this year through 181, the NRI helpline number in the state. The police station presently has around 21 staff members, including SHO Dalbir Singh.

Dalbir Singh said though the police station does accept complaints against NRIs, including matrimonial desertion cases or fraud and cheating, all seven FIRs registered this year were lodged by NRIs only.

“Very rarely we receive complaints against NRIs, but we do follow up and investigate thoroughly to track the guilty NRIs. Many deserted NRI wives too have approached us to track their missing husbands and their families in foreign countries,” said Singh.

The Punjab Government had, in 2004, established a dedicated NRI unit, especially for dealing with specific problems of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the state. In 2008, the government notified six dedicated NRI police stations each in Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Moga, and Nawanshahr and Kapurthala. Even though there was not much response by the NRIs to the new initiative, the state government increased the number of NRI police stations to 15 in 2015.

The complete revamping of the NRI Cell, subsequently rechristened NRI & Women Wing, commenced in the year 2011 when the post of the IGP in the NRI wing was created to enable an improved monitoring of the NRI issues in the state under a senior officer of the IGP rank. However, with not much power bestowed in the post, officials occupying the post remain toothless even today.

Reasons for low turnout 

• No special powers granted to NRI police in terms of getting the encroached property vacated or special summons issued to the other party.
• No Special NRI Act in the state except a provision listed in Section 13(B) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act that enables an NRI to apply through his lawyer to the rent controller so that he can have immediate possession of his property. 
• Many alleged corruption cases of police officials posted in the NRI police stations who have themselves encroached properties of NRIs settled abroad. 
• Lack of technical infrastructure and staff in such police stations. Though the police stations can receive complaints filed by various NRIs settled abroad, these cannot reply to them directly and have to interact with them only through their headquarters based in Mohali. 
• The NRI season generally lasts from November to January in the state. A majority of the walk-ins were reported in these three months only.

The police station is providing an immediate redress to NRIs settled abroad. We have done well in recent years, from improving our infrastructure to attaching the properties of absconding NRIs involved in various crimes. We are also handling cases pertaining to NRI-deserted wives. However, as the NRI season lasts only for two to three months in the state, we receive the maximum footfall during that time only. — Dalbir Singh, SHO NRI (Urban) Police Station