Vigilance committee to be formed in every village in TN

Vigilance committees would be formed in all the districts in Tamil Nadu, particularly on the coastal and border districts, to check and keep vigil on the movement of banned outfits, a top police official said today.

Vigilance committees would be formed in all the districts in Tamil Nadu, particularly on the coastal and border districts, to check and keep vigil on the movement of banned outfits, a top police official said on Saturday.

HT Image

Replying to questions on special mechanism to monitor the movements of those belonging to banned outfits, K Radhakrishnan, ADGP (L and O), told reporters in Coimbatore that situation is being monitored every week at the district level and also periodically at the State level.

With a 1,076 km-long coastal belt, the longest in the country, spread over 590 villages, the department has opened 12 marine police stations and 17 checkposts and proposed to set up another 20 marine stations, in a phased manner, Radhakrishnan said. Each village in the state will have one such committee.

The police will coordinate with Coast Guard, Navy and also Revenue officials to monitor infiltration by members of banned outfits, including Maoists, he said.

On the proposal to set up special commandos, Radhakrishnan said 60 police personnel from Armed Reserve in each district would be given commando training to combat any situation and 30 trained personnel would respond at any point of time.

The department was now focusing on preventing sand and rice smuggling to neighbouring states, particularly Kerala, with the help of Food Cell and Revenue department, and also to end the cases of landgrabbing, 'Katta panchayat,' (Kangaroo courts) and rowdy menace, Radhakrishnan said.