While Ludhiana railway police has the maximum number of proclaimed offenders (POs) in the state, mere three men have been deputed here to nab 427 absconders— registered in the records of Government Railway Police (GRP), Ludhiana.
GRP, however, has around 730 POs across Punjab.
Notably, former special director general of police Sanjeev Kumar Kalra earlier this year— with the aim to trace down the PO— had again formed and activated separate PO wings in all the 11 GRP police stations of Punjab.
In Ludhiana, after the retirement of two cops in the PO wing, no staff was added for three months, hindering the work efficiency.
“The maximum of POs are migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Of 250 total NDPS POs registered with the Ludhiana railway police, only 10 are from Punjab and others hail from other states,” a police officer said.
He added that it becomes difficult for three staff members deployed in the local PO wing of railway police to trace down and arrest the POs from the other states.
“We need manpower and especially adequate resources. Since there are over 400 POs in Ludhiana, more people are required here,” an officer said.
{{/usCountry}}“We need manpower and especially adequate resources. Since there are over 400 POs in Ludhiana, more people are required here,” an officer said.
{{/usCountry}}No transport facility discourages officers to go an extra mile
Moreover, since the staff is not provided with any transport facility, they have to shell out from their own pocket which discourages them to make extra efforts to nab the absconders.
“We don’t have our own vehicles to move around the district, across the state or outside Punjab to nab the accused timely. We have to dig into our pockets to finance transportation cost, source money, accommodation cost etc, to nab the accused, but bills are not reimbursed completely,” another GRP officer here said.
Sharing a story, a PO staff here said that the team recently went to arrest a PO from Jaipur after tracing his location here but ended up struggling with meagre resources and spent a humongous amount from their pocket. “We have not received any reimbursement till date which is annoying. There should be more budget for the police for its smooth functioning,” a cop said.
A senior officer said migrants were mostly the drug carriers. The officer added that after committing crimes, including snatching, thefts, etc, they elope in their home state.
“Most of the time their address registered with their contractors or employees here are wrong that increases difficulty in nabbing them during raids,” a senior officer said.
Pertinently, the new state government had directed the GRP to expedite the process to nab these accused and also to dispose of other cases quickly to clear the pendency.
A crime meeting of the senior railway police officials, including additional director general of police, assistant inspector general, superintendent of police (operations), deputy superintendents of police and station house officers regarding the same is held every month to keep the track of the performance of the staff without equipping them enough to perform their duty efficiently.
A similar meeting is scheduled at the end of this month where the railway crime across Punjab would be discussed.