Ludhiana: Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar for making canal road drive safe

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 26

Taking the first initiative after joining here as Police Commissioner, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar took a round of the South City Canal road and decided to immediately step up day-night patrolling on the stretch. The entire stretch witnesses a huge traffic but a minimal presence of police, putting commuters at risk.

Street lights non-functional

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, who visited the road during the night, noticed more than 90 per cent street lights were non-functional. The police will talk to the national highway officials concerned to immediately make these lights functional.

CCTV cameras to be installed at vulnerable points

Bhullar said the police would install CCTV cameras at the vulnerable points. The live feed of CCTV cameras already installed on commercial and residential buildings would be monitored to keep a watch over criminal elements.

Speed interceptor

The canal road had witnessed major road mishaps due to speeding in the past, and to curtail the violation, a speed interceptor would be installed on the stretch. On July 25, three of the four occupants of a car were killed when their vehicle fell into the Sidhwan Canal near Raghunath Enclave on the South City road.

The canal road also have a few restaurants and liquor bars due to which chances of violations such as drunken driving on this road remain high. This stretch is also prone to accidents as most drivers are often seen indulging in speeding.

Bhullar, along with Joint Commissioner of Police Deepak Pareek, Additional DCP Sameer Verma and the SHO of the area, visited the road and found many shortcomings in terms of security parameters.

The South City road is a developing area having residential and commercial buildings. This road connects to various city roads and even the newly constructed overbridge. It also leads towards Ladhowal and then towards Jalandhar, said Bhullar.

“Despite this road is vulnerable to crime and road mishaps, I didn’t see much police presence there. Now, we have devised a security plan under which permanent police nakas would be installed on this road where police personnel armed with sophisticated weapons will be deputed. The PCR teams will be formed which will patrol the stretch for 24 hours. Cops in civvies will also patrol on the road,” said Bhullar.