E-Paper
UP, Himachal police assure help in ensuring fair poll
Neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have assured a foolproof security cover and crackdown on the criminal elements along Uttarakhand border ahead of state assembly election scheduled for January 30.
Neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have assured a foolproof security cover and crackdown on the criminal elements along Uttarakhand border ahead of state assembly election scheduled for January 30.
The decision was taken in an inter-state coordination meeting held at Haridwar on Wednesday evening.
Officers from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh attended the meeting meant for facilitating better coordination between the police of neighboring districts of other states for keeping a close vigil on activities, which may disrupt the process of election in the state.
The smuggling of illicit liquor from Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh into the state is a major cause of concern for the police of Uttarakhand. The police have been seizing liquor consignments illegally brought into state’s boundary to influence the voters before polling.
According to an estimate, state police has seized 7800 litres of illicit liquor, smuggled from neighboring states, in last few days in the run up to Uttarakhand assembly elections. “There are some liquor shops in Kotdwar just on the border of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, which are governed by the rules of Uttar Pradesh but the whole sale of those shops are dependent on people living on our side. So we have requested the authorities from Uttar Pradesh to ensure that those shops remain closed 48 hours before the assembly election on January 30,” Sanjay Gunjyal, DIG (Garhwal), told HT.
Generally liquor from Himachal Pradesh is smuggled to places like Uttarkashi and Vikasnagar due to the proximity with the neighboring state.
“We have also requested the officers from Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh to crackdown on the illegal liquor factories running in the villages bordering Uttarakhand,” Sanjay Gunjyal said. The officers from three states discussed preventive measures to be taken in and around the border areas and also evaluated threat perceptions. States have agreed on conducting combined raids and checking in case of any prior information and field level officer from all three states exchanged phone numbers to ensure better coordination in case of any emergency situation.
The meeting was chaired by DIG (Garhwal) Sanjay Gunjyal and was attended by SSP Dehradun, SSP Haridwar, DIG (Saharanpur), SSP Saharanpur, DM Muzaffarnagar, DM Sirmour.
