SP, Collector confer on temple thefts in South
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 12
The district police chief Allan De Sa on Wednesday had a meting with district Magistrate, South G P Naik on the spate of Temple thefts and burglaries reported in the South Goa district in recent months.
The police chief is believed to have submitted a detailed report on the Temple theft cases to the Magistrate and steps taken to prevent the cases. The meeting assumes significance and it comes against the backdrop of the high-level meeting convened by the government to discuss the increasing Temple thefts in the state.
SP, South Allan De Sa told newsmen that the meeting was preparatory in nature in view of the meeting convened by the government on the sensitive issue.
Sources in the know said the report including the number of major Temples in the district, their vulnerability to thefts and security measures needed to prevent further burglaries.
The SP is believed to have stated that the district police is facing an acute manpower shortage, making it difficult for the men-in-uniform to provide security for each and every place of worship.
It is learnt that the police pointed out that though the population has registered a jump in recent years, the strength of the police force has stagnated over the years.
Representatives of the South Goa Temple committees had on Tuesday called on the district Magistrate and expressed their total unhappiness over the police investigations into the spate of thefts and burglaries.
The state has so far reported over 61 Temple thefts in recent times, besides a host of thefts in Churches and other places of worship, especially in South Goa.
Incidentally, the two major theft cases reported at the Shree Chandreshwar Bhuthnath Temple and the Shree Shantadurga Kitalkaren, where the total booty lifted away by the burglary was estimated around Rs half a crore, are yet to detected by the men-in-uniform.
