Outskirts dwellers are on edge

Those staying on the outskirts are feeling insecure due to the growing number of loot, robberies and burglaries. The latest robbery-cum-murder reported from Naubasta has only gone to increase their fear. Several residents have shifted to other areas and many others are making similar plans.
Kamlesh Singh of Naubasta said: "Several thefts have been reported in the past few days.Yadvendra Chauhan and Pinku Singh live in my neighbourhood. Both their houses were burgled recently. One among them had gone home for Makar Sankranti while the other had gone to participate in a wedding in Kanpur Dehat. Beside valuables, cash and jewellery, the thieves also took away steel taps and water supply fittings," added Singh.
Another resident Mahesh said: "Last month, four thefts took place in Barra area. Policemen deputed at the police out-post seem to unable to check criminals. Leaving the house locked is extremely unsafe."
Bablu Singh, another resident of Barra said: "Dacoities and burglaries are continuing unchecked in this area and the police have not been able to solve even a single case so far. The police instead of working out the case ask us to deploy security guards, which only exposes their ineffectiveness. The police are more keen on blaming us. If we do not have a safety door, they say why have you not put a safety door. If we have one, they tell us that we should have a watchman and so on.''
Inderveer Singh said: "Only yesterday, we caught two snatchers who were trying to escape after depriving a youth of Rs 5,000. They were later handed over to the Barra police. The police, on the other hand, did not initiated any action against the two and allowed them to go scot-free. They instead detained the victim on charges of manhandling them."
Another local, Ghanshyam Agarwal, said: "Several residents have sold their property and shifted out of the area due to the growing crime. Three tenants from our areas recently shifted to Civil Lines. Residents are obviously panicking."
College and coaching students, too, are finding it unsafe to stay in these areas. About a year ago, a BEd aspirant was hanged to death by a thief when he tried to offer resistance. "In that case too, the police termed the incident as that of suicide," said a medical student, Kishan Katiyar, a resident of Kalyanpur.
However, DIG Mutha Ashok Jain said: "Night patrolling has been intensified in the vulnerable pockets across the City." The police should deploy police pickets and verify the credentials of labourers and domestics working in their area. Anti-social elements hiding in houses under different guises would be easily detected and that could help check the crime, he said.