Want beat box system back in Chandigarh: RWAs

CHANDIGARH: Residents welfare associations of various sectors have been demanding revival of the old beat box system for a long time to control the crime rate in the city.
Beat boxes are small police units to address grievances of an area. Though the policeman of a beat system may not stay in the box for the entire day, he has to spend some time there to interact with people. When the beat box system was prevalent, cops from the box used to visit the senior citizens living alone in their area. The residents hence want the system back and want police to increse interaction with the RWAs.

Referring to the old system, the residents said that earlier police used to meet the senior citizens at their houses to make them feel safe. Even the neighbours also used to keep a check on senior citizens who stayed alone as police kept them aware and sensitise them to do so.

During a visit to Manimajra, the residents complained that the beat box near the market remains shut most of the time and no staff are available to register or act upon any complaint of the resident.

On January 28, 2001, a neighbour watch scheme, now known as community liaison scheme, was launched by the UT police department, under which the residents welfare associations were asked to create a data of service providers such as milkmen, scrap dealer, vegetable and fruit vendor, newspaper hawker, cobbler, washermen and car washers and issue them identity card.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, president of Federation of Sectors Welfare Associations of Chandigarh (Foswac), said, “Ten years ago there was a system that beat box staffers used to visit the residents of the senior citizens to make them feel safe. In fact, there was also an interaction system between the beat box staffers and the RWAs in the area on regular basis where the SHO of the local police station used to listen to the issues raised by the residents and resolved them. But now police seem to focus more on paperwork than fieldwork and that is why this model has been shelved.”

In an interaction between police and RWA in Manimajra, residents have asked the SHO to take help of the locals interested to give voluntary services to police. Reacting to which SHO said the RWAs should provide him the list of residents, and he can get that approved from the higher authorities to have the voluntary services in future.