Residents of Margao and Fatorda are at their wit’s end as to how to resort to tackling the rising menace of unruly youth gathering right in front of their doorsteps every night. This a very common sight in front of houses located on the interior roads of Fatorda and Margao that has seen an increase in the number of residential dwellings and with that increase, there has been an increase in fear among the residents. This has incensed locals as they claim that even though such a threat exists, the police do not respond on time to complaints about these groups of drunken boys hanging out right in front of their main gates. The boys are seen talking loudly and using abusive language, speeding in their cars and doing stunts on their bikes, playing card games at underconstruction sites and consuming drugs openly. While police state that they carry out night patrolling and are aware of these complaints, the boys show no fear and are arrogant when questioned by owners as to why they are creating a nuisance in their alley with questions in Hindi about if their father owns the roads. Margao and Fatorda residents have constantly called the police about these large groups of boys who park vehicles near residential complexes and are unruly, drinking, ighting, smoking and are scary for pedestrians and residents. Residents have accused police of failing to come when they call 100 and link the rise in theft cases to these groups. “The other day, at around 11pm, a group of about 12 boys heavily under the inluence of alcohol came and parked their car and 3 bikes opposite our house and started playing loud music from their car and behaving inappropriately in a public place causing disturbance to the neighbours and us,” said Alroy Menezes, Fatorda resident who expressed his disappointment with the police. “When we dialled 100 and informed the control room, it took 17mins for the police to call back and conirm the incident. However, by that time the boys had left. But 17mins to call back is a very bad response time. What if there was a life threatening situation given the notorious nature of the happenings in the neighbourhood? Furthermore, we waited for 45 minutes and still no vehicle or policeman came to the site,” added Menezes. Incidentally, as per the police records between January to March 2015, the number of theft cases under the jurisdiction of Margao to March has increased tremendously. Incidentally, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, V Renganathan recently visited the Margao police headquarters and took cognizance of the crimes that have occurred at night. Groups of citizens in the past have submitted memorandums accusing the police of failing to solve cases. They also accused the police of encouraging victims not to ile police cases to try and close the matter offering no hope at nabbing the culprits and instead give numerous excuses and blame the victims for being negligent.
