KOLKATA: A section of New Town morning walkers on Sunday was inducted as volunteers and tasked with keeping a watch on the township’s stretches in small groups during the day and call coordinating officers for action the moment they notice something suspicious.
Bidhannagar police rolled out the dos and don’ts to the Resistance Group members in New Town who volunteered to help cops in crime prevention and reporting. Though cops thanked them for the initiative, they repeatedly cautioned the volunteers not to intervene during any untoward incident and limit their duty to surveillance and reporting of the crime.
“Detection and investigation of crime is our job. We are asking the volunteers to only continue their morning walk sessions every day but in the areas we ask them to and walk in groups. Whenever they see something suspicious, they need to take a photograph of the incident and share the location with the cops on duty. They need not intervene by themselves at any cost,” said New Town DCP Bishop Sarkar at the meeting held near Biswa Bangla gate in presence of 200-odd residents and volunteers at 7am.
According to the plan, the volunteers will be divided into three large sections for three different action areas in New Town. Volunteers in each section will be further divided into smaller groups of five or six persons who will walk, exercise or cycle together during the morning vigil.
“Volunteers should always move in groups. Moving alone can make them soft targets. The idea is to increase presence and deter criminals from committing offence,” said Sarkar.
New Town Kolkata Development Authority chairperson Debasis Sen, who attended the meeting, spoke of the unique problems with New Town that need special solutions. “New Town is a new township with new problems which require new solutions. All of us need to come together to make this a safer place to live in,” said Sen.
He added that NKDA will install more CCTV cameras and ensure better illumination of the streets. He had also brought drones and made a presentation about how they can be used to make announcements in case of emergencies.
Cops said large uninhabited portions of New Town — many of them still under construction — attract a number of outsiders, which poses a threat to the security at times. The multiple escape routes from New Town also makes the township an easy target for criminals.
“The pandemic has made the situation worse with many people resorting to crime to make ends meet. There have been at least two instances where the arrested snatchers have turned out to be carpool drivers operating in Sector V who are now out of jobs,” said Sarkar, who also launched a WhatsApp number — 7478746864 — where residents can text the DCP with photos, locations and brief mention of the problems that need police intervention.
Residents and volunteers attending the meeting were enthusiastic about their new responsibilities. “A journey of a thousand miles started today. The Resistance Group was formally launched and all our volunteers are excited to be part of the same and will do our level best to safeguard society along with the cops,” said Samaresh Das, chairperson of New Town Forum and News, the residents’ body that had organized the meeting.
