Carved out from the earlier jurisdiction of the Cuttack Sadar police station, the Kandarpur police station set up in May 2011 has now become a major headache for the Cuttack Commissionerate police. For its strategic location bordering Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts, the new police station is finding it difficult to cope with the criminal activities in the localities coming under its area.
The Monday’s bomb blast in a classroom of the Ayatpur Government High School under this police station is certainly an eye-opener for the Commissionerate police, which till date was not giving much importance to the rising crime graph in the area. Even if the area is away from the main city, it is vulnerable to criminal activities. The area serves as the gateway to Jagatsinghpur district.
“It is a tendency of hardcore criminals to escape to rural areas through the porous and less fortified bordering police stations,” observed a retired police officer, adding that if the bordering police stations are fortified and well-equipped, a lot of crimes committed in the main city could be cracked.
Confronted with such propositions, the mandarins of the Commissionerate police have now started giving importance to such police stations, and the Kandarpur police station, in particular, is now under the scanner. “We have enhanced the patrolling and night surveillance of the villages surrounding the Kandarpur market, which is one of the biggest business hubs of the eastern limits of Cuttack district,” said Cuttack DCP S Praveen Kumar.
The Kandarpur police outpost of the Cuttack Sadar police station was upgraded to a police station on May 18, 2011 and its jurisdiction comprises an area of nearly 40 square kilometers having a population of over 40,000. While the police station had registered only 39 cases during the seven months in 2011 (May to December), it registered 72 cases in 2012 and has already registered 55 cases in the first six months of 2013.
The villages like Nimeishapur, Biribati, Deopur, Bamburi, Rajhansa, Ayatpur, Fakirpada, Raghunathpur, Athanga, Kerapada and Kampu come under this police station and the locals claim that due to the influence of outsiders the youths of this locality are misguided and getting lured into criminal activities.
“ack of proper vigilance of the local police, the nearby areas have turned into safe havens of criminals who take shelters in different hideouts here after committing crimes elsewhere,” said a villager, expressing shock over the Monday’s bomb blast in a
classroom when students were studying.