Crime thrives in real estate hot spot

there is a saying in the police force that all major criminal activities in kolkata either begin or end here. from the murder of prasenjit in jyngra to the recent partha roy burman abduction case — all had their roots in rajarhat. yet, there is only one police station and an investigating centre in this huge 106 square kilometre area, which is currently the hub of construction activity.with a megacity project going full steam ahead and people from upper and middle income groups settling here, the crime graph has already taken an upward swing. construction of numerous multi-storeyed buildings has brought in the real estate mafia. satta and illegal liquor trade are flourishing. so is the narcotics trade. but the baguihati investigation centre has only two sub-inspectors, five assistant sub-inspectors and 28 constables. the rajarhat police station is equally short-staffed. to cover an area which already had a population of over 5,00,000, such a small force was inadequate, said police officers. the worst affected areas, they said, were jagatpur, sulongguri, pramodgar, thakurdari and ghuni, where sale of illicit liquor flourished along with a roaring flesh trade. "with two old jeeps, it is just not possible to tackle the situation," said a police official of the investigation centre. overworked officials pointed out that even with this severe staff shortage, the police were forced to cover the entire megacity area, attend to vip duties — often several times a day — provide security to banks and other establishments and also attend to the regular complaints. "the main problem here is the rapid increase in population. according to the statistics, there is only one policeman for about 4,200 people here," said another official. "criminal activities would increase and we''ll have to watch helplessly unless more police personnel are provided," he said.