Govt plan to add muscle to police force in Meerut, NCR hangs fire

The Muzaffarnagar violence could perhaps have been better contained had the Uttar Pradesh government stuck to its plan of equipping neighbouring Meerut and Ghaziabad with a stronger police force.

The Muzaffarnagar violence could perhaps have been better contained had the Uttar Pradesh government stuck to its plan of equipping neighbouring Meerut and Ghaziabad with a stronger police force.

The plan, made in January and shelved later, has now been revived again. “Had the system been in place already, forces could have been rushed and the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar could have been controlled,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.

The plan included equipping the Meerut, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar police with sophisticated weapons, patrol cars, communication gadgets, forensic laboratory and surveillance cameras. But it was shelved after trade union violence rocked Noida and Ghaziabad.

On September 7, when violence rocked Muzaffarnagar, Shamili and Baghpat, the state posted an ADG-rank officer in western UP. Extra police force was also deployed to instill confidence among entrepreneurs who wished to invest in the area.