No Luck ‘now’ for criminals trying to flee city

To prevent criminals from fleeing the city after committing crime, Inspector General (IG) of Police, Lucknow range Sujeet Pandey has chalked out a ‘cordon-off plan’ for regular monitoring of exit points of miscreants from Lucknow.

“We have identified 63 such exit points from the city including highways and interior roads. The plan is to deploy patrolling vans or motorcycles at these points on a regular basis so that after one alert call all exit routes can be blocked,” Pandey said while explaining the concept.

He further added the concerned police officers would just have to sound an alert to block all exit points instead of talking to different police stations in-charges and officers to intensify checking at various routes in case of an emergency.

Pandey came up with the idea after police successfully caught the kidnappers of a La Martiniere College student within 8 hours of the incident on Monday.

Giving details, the IG Lucknow range said criminals usually take advantage of police unpreparedness during urgent situations and lack of coordination due to which they easily move out of the city after committing crimes.

“A detailed geographical survey has been conducted about all exit points on the city border before finalising the cordon-off plan,” he emphasised and added, “These exit points are basically on the routes heading towards six adjoining districts including Barabanki, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Sultanpur, Kanpur, Sitapur and Hardoi”.

At least two police constables would be deployed at these points on regular basis and power response vans would man the highways while patrolling on two-wheelers will be done on interior roads. Barriers would also be put up at these points.

Moreover, these exit routes will be made as a separate beat of the particular police station areas, he added.

The IG said police outposts or help centres would be set up at some points if required. He said the plan is also to keep electronic surveillance on these stretches and exit points with the help of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras that will be linked to the police control room to keep round-the-clock vigil on people passing through it.

Pandey said the ‘cordon-off plan,’ according to a rough estimate, required at least 15 patrolling vans and 200 extra police personnel. He said some more basic equipments and peripheral devices used for checking or blocking the routes will be required and a proposal regarding it has been sent to the UP DGP headquarters for final approval.