Horse-mounted cops help protect crops from thieves

Vadodara: Most may believe that horses have little relevance in policing today, but ask the villagers of Rabdal in Kalol taluka of Panchmahal district and they will tell you how indebted they are to horse-mounted policemen.
They have even arranged for the stay and meals of the policemen in their village.
The farms around Rabdal were plagued by frequent incidents of cattle being forced into fields full of crops or people stealing standing crops. The farmers were suffering heavy losses due to the miscreants and trying to stop them used to lead to fights.
Finally, the farmers learnt that the police department had horse-mounted team whom they could rope in for a fee. It has been over three years now that the policemen have been posted at Rabdal and there have been hardly any incidents of damage to crops by miscreants.
Rabdal sarpanch Mayur Patel said, “Miscreants used to come in groups and we had to lose a lot of crops. On getting to know about the horse-riding policemen, we sought their assistance.”
The villagers provided space for policemen to stay along with a shade for the horses. The villagers have taken the onus of providing meals to the policemen, said Patel. He added that the villagers contribute towards the expenses and the amount to be paid to the district police every month.
Police sub-inspector G C Gohil, who heads the mounted policemen department said, that the Kalol taluka had several villages that had good agriculture. “Damage to crops by cattle and miscreants was a problem that has been taken care of since policemen on horses started patrolling the area. The villagers are happy with the state of affairs,” he said.
Gohil added that apart from Rabdal, Jantral village had also taken their help. The villagers have to pay Rs 3,500 for each mounted policeman every month, he said.
Kalol deputy superintendent of police Harpalsinh Rathod said that the mounted policemen were provided directly by the headquarters.
He added that there were no major cases of loss of crop due to cattle being forced into farms in the recent past.