Herald: There’s app-solutely no timeline on when the mobile app meant to prevent extortion will be ready

27 May 2023 | 06:20am IST

There’s app-solutely no timeline on when the mobile app meant to prevent extortion will be ready

Goans are eagerly waiting for such a strong assurance by a strong Home Minister to be implemented at top speed by Goa police. All that the Goa Police PRO had to offer as response was “It’s on the anvil”

VITHALDAS HEGDE

PANJIM: It was none other than Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, also the Home Minister, who assured people on the floor of the Assembly that his government has zero tolerance towards any form of extortion threats faced by anyone, especially hoteliers and F and B outlets, for playing outdoor music beyond 10 pm.

But two months later, the Goa police don’t seem to have a timeline on when the app would be functional, nor is there any information on who is developing the app or by when it would be at least tested.

When contacted, SP (Cyber Crime) and newly appointed Public Relation Officer (PRO) Shivendu Bhushan could only offer that the launching of mobile app “is in the pipeline” and “its functionalities would be decided later”.

With such a strong assurance made by the CM himself, it could be taken for granted that the app creation would be at a very advanced stage by now.

So what exactly did the Chief Minister assure?

He said in the Goa Assembly that his government will have zero tolerance for any form of extortion threats in the State. “A mobile app will be launched to report complaints of harassment and threat by extortionists to the Goa Police so that quick coercive action as per law could be initiated,” the CM had said.

Meanwhile, there is another digital crime prevention intervention planned. The Goa Police has also decided to launch e-Beat Book as part of smart policing to track crimes. The beat constable would log into this app and unload the information from his beat which will be monitored by senior police officers.

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Opinion

Assurances in the Assembly have the strength and solemnity of law.

When the head of government makes a strong commitment in the Assembly, it is more than an assurance. It is an order. All assurances are supposed to be carefully noted and sent to the concerned department for necessary discussion and action.

The assurance to create an app to report extortion threats has incidentally sprung out of allegations that those close to power were threatening nightlife stakeholders of having their businesses shut At 10 pm as per the sound rule.

These “extortionists” laced their threats with an offer that a little sum could make life easy for them and no one would interfere.

It was at that time that the CM, in a discussion in the Assembly, stepped in make this assurance so that any complaints of extortion could be uploaded immediately with video and audio evidence.

People now hope that the CM will step in and tell the police to have more specific answers than “it’s in the pipeline”.

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