Pune July 01 In the final part of our present series ‘Crime in the City’, Police Commissioner Jayant Umranikar cites the dismal statistics in an exclusive interview toSunanda Mehta. He asks people to be more responsible for their own security by installing alarm systems at home and burglar sirens for cars.
From being a prime city, Pune is now a prime target city. Comment.
A population of 55 lakh to 60 lakh and a floating population of 5 lakh, which includes construction workers and others who come to the city for seasonal employment, make for an unstable entity that generates crime. The ratio of police to public in the city is just 1:1000. In 15-20 years, the population will be 1 crore. Cognisable offences will jump from 10,000 today to 20,000. Can just 28 police stations suffice? We need 40-50 more. Plus security infrastructure like vehicles equipped with gadgets needs to match up. There are only 440 traffic policemen for 1,477 traffic junctions and 2 million vehicles. We have projected our requirements and with Rs 15 crore sanctioned for the CYG, we hope to get all this.
So once you get all this, will crime in the city come down?
This is not a correct question. Urbanisation means more men coming into the city, leaving women behind. This leads to specific crimes like prostitution, dance bars, massage parlours, increased drinking, drugs. Farmers who have sold their land recently and come into lots of cash tend to indulge in all these activities. Then Pune is an educational hub with so many students coming from outside, even abroad. Many are management quota type youngsters coming from rich families, who give them pots of money and tell them to return only after five years after getting their degrees. Some of the city's recent kidnappings were at the instance of students only. Then there are local goons who try to influence admissions through threats. So crimes like these will grow with the city.
Talking of the admissions rackets, why doesn't the police crack down on them?
We will, if the institutes report it. We have even asked them to install cameras in their premises to gather proof against such threats but they don't want to -- for reasons best known to them. Also individuals don't report against touts unless they are swindled. If they get admissions on the basis of payments, they keep quiet. What can we do?
With 40 per cent of the townships coming up in the state being in Pune, the land mafia is set to proliferate. What do the police plan to do about this?
We are keeping a close watch on these elements -- we know goons from Mumbai are being hired to pressure locals. At least three important groups of criminals with land mafia links have been booked under MOCCA by us.
Pune has also become a soft target for terror attacks.
This is because it is home to a number of military institutions that are always on the terrorists' radar. Being an education city too, this is a place where terror outfits do their talent spotting. We are keeping a close watch on all this and that's why there has been no major terror attack on Pune yet.
You have been quoted as saying that citizens must take care of themselves and that the police can't provide protection to everybody.
When a bank, ATM or collection center gets robbed, people say the police should provide security. There are about 4,000 banks and thousands of ATMs in Pune. Can the police cover each of these? People spend Rs 50 lakh to buy a flat, why not another Rs 25,000 for an alarm system? They spend Rs 10 lakh for a car but not Rs 5,000 for a burglar siren. The banks and ATMs are not bothered about security because their money is insured. We will do our best but for a city bursting at its seams like Pune, the people have to be responsible for their own security as well.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/We-have-one-cop-per-1-000-citize...
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