Cracking down on crime
Celebrations which we look forward to with eager anticipation have suddenly become a nightmare. Today Goans have become paranoid about festivals given the deterioration of the law and order situation in the state. Whether it is the Christmas-New Year season or Ganesh Chaturthi, thieves and killers are having an even bigger celebration, targeting vulnerable residents in major towns and villages by carefully scouting the place.
So when Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar says he has read the riot act to the Goa police, asking them to issue an advisory to people to take precautions, register their tenants and monitor the service conditions of security agencies by amending the rules, it would hardly convince us.
Against the backdrop of the attack on the ruling party MLA Vishnu Wagh by hoodlums with political connections, citizens’ confidence in the state’s guardians of the law is at its lowest after the recent spate of thefts and murder in South Goa. Merely registering tenants or presuming that it is security guards who are hand in glove with thieves is just a small aspect of the overall crime scenario in the state. What would be more assuring is to insist that the security agencies employ persons with minimum 10 years domicile in this state, and banning newcomers from taking such positions.
The chief minister’s statement that the police cannot be expected to keep tabs on everyone is unacceptable. The police force and intelligence agencies are paid by the tax payer to be 24×7 on their toes physically, and to keep a network of intelligence and informants ticking by being in touch with their counterparts in neighbouring states about the movement of criminals. A large part of intelligence gathering is achieved through surveillance and interception of suspect conversations, an art perfected in Gujarat for all the wrong reasons.
The CM said people keeping tenants would have to register them if they wished to avoid being prosecuted, since it is difficult to track these people down later. No doubt people have to register tenants as evidenced by so many crimes committed here by these short staying paying guests. But unlike the terror suspect Yasin Bhatkal who was here to recce the place as a part of a larger terrorist plan, thieves do not come and stay and leave such elaborate clues. They are essentially fly-by-night operators who loot the place and usually make a run for it by hopping on a train in the early hours or late night.
Cracking down on security agencies will help, but not efface crime from Goa. True some crime may be committed by security personnel being in league with criminals and thieves. But most of the crimes, as past data shows, are committed by gangs of criminals who swoop down on the state as evidenced by the modus operandi adopted by them. Police lack the will, the tools and training to chase down these criminals to their hideouts in their native states to crack down on the gangs.
What were the advance preventive measures adopted by the police ahead of the festival season? Essentially nothing to our knowledge. The CM and Deputy CM have both remarked in the past that Goa is a soft state. It implies that Goa government has to put in place some serious intelligence gathering mechanism, punish police who indulge in corruption and may be involved in crime themselves and instill confidence in the people.
