E-Paper
Preparations yet to gather momentum
Even as Ardh Kumbh mela is drawing closer, the slow pace of work appears to have hit every department?s working. Cops too are not lagging behind. However, unlike others they appear to be quite concerned over the snail's pace of work which has hit their department mainly due to the lackadaisical approach of others. A senior cop stationed on duty in the Ardh Kumbh said, eight of the twelve anti-sabotage teams were yet to arrive. Like-wise only two bomb disposal teams out of six marked for the mela have arrived till date.
Even as Ardh Kumbh mela is drawing closer, the slow pace of work appears to have hit every department’s working. Cops too are not lagging behind. However, unlike others they appear to be quite concerned over the snail's pace of work which has hit their department mainly due to the lackadaisical approach of others.
A senior cop stationed on duty in the Ardh Kumbh said, eight of the twelve anti-sabotage teams were yet to arrive. Like-wise only two bomb disposal teams out of six marked for the mela have arrived till date.
Six additional SPs should have taken charge in the mela before November 4, but not a single officer has turned up to take over this important assignment till date. These police officers are the ones who would be directly dealing with the deployed force and carry out briefings on how to go about. But the authorities concerned responsible for the posting of these officers appear to be in deep slumber.
Similarly, 19 Dy SPs should have taken charge of their duty in the mela before November 4 but only six officers from different places have been released for mela duty till now. Similarly, only 10 Inspectors out of 50 have taken charge of their assignments till date.
As many as 28 police stations and 35 police outposts are to be set up in the sprawling Ardh Kumbh mela which is expecting a greater rush of pilgrims this time in comparison to Kumbh fair held in 2001. But only 14 police stations have come up till now.
Sources said, this was mainly because the PWD, the Power Corporation and the Jal Nigam have not completed their work. There are no approach roads, no water and electric supply at the proposed sites of police stations. Hence, under these circumstances, the the police department is waiting impatiently for the availability of these basic amenities without which a police station cannot function.
The 14 police stations which have come up are facing an acute shortage of regular water supply. Cops at these police stations are somehow managing with the water supplied to them through tankers. The round-the-clock electricity supply is still a far cry for them, said a cop. We are getting electricity only for a few hours in the night, he added. Most of the cops who have come on duty from far flung districts are at the mercy of departments engaged in providing them these facilities. With no local contact many of them are facing real problems.
