Rawat ‘wakes up’ police post midnight

Dehradun: In a bid to improve policing in the state, chief minister Harish Rawat post midnight on Sunday surprised the police department by conducting checks at different police posts and stations to see how seriously officers performed their duties during the midnight hours. Top brass of the state police woke up at around 2.30 am to the news of chief minister’s surprise checks and was left wondering what could be the outcome of the exercise..
A senior IAS officer in home department told TOI that minutes after Rawat’s convoy reached Dehradun city, he suddenly asked his driver to move towards different check posts and police stations to watch the law and order situation. As Rawat approached a check post near Respina Bridge on Dehradun-Haridwar Road, he was stunned to see that only two cops were present on duty.
The chief minister immediately asked Dehradun SSP Pushpal Jyoti to explain why only two cops were assigned to maintain law and order at a crime-prone spot. After giving a patient hearing to the SSP’s explanation, Rawat asked him to ensure more cops are deployed at different sensitive check posts during night hours. He also asked the SSP and DIG to conduct surprise checking at police stations and check posts to see if those assigned the duty of managing law and order are doing their job seriously. “If the chief minister can conduct unscheduled checking during midnight hours, why not senior law enforcing officers like you,” Rawat was heard asking.
A source in CM office told TOI that during his four-hour long checking at different posts and police stations, he was stunned to find that most of the cops put on night duty were absent. Taking a strong exception to the state of affairs at different check post, Rawat reportedly gave an earful to some of the officers.
“As most of the heinous crimes, including highway robberies, robberies and murders take place during night hours, I really fail to understand why you people take it so casually,” the chief minister reportedly said.