Laxity at nakabandis in North Goa irks SP

Laxity at nakabandis in North Goa irks SP
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: Within seconds of a nakabandi being declared, the Goa police throws in a security dragnet all over the place, with policemen rushing to fixed points to frisk people in vehicles and to check and round up any offender on the run.
However, a few hours later as the city sleeps, the policemen also discard their naka, living it open to unscrupulous elements and fleeing offenders, despite orders to be on guard.
Alarmed with the stark reality at check points across the state, the SP (North), who personally visited nakabandis on early January 10 and found the staff deployed at all points in Panaji, Porvorim and Mapusa missing, has issued a memo to the concerned sub-divisional police officers (SDPO) to take action against the defaulting officers. He has also asked them to forward a report to his office for the purpose of initiating necessary action.
Further, to avoid such instances where staff abandon nakabandi points before the stipulated time, the SP said, “Henceforth, a night gazetted officer (who is a police officer of the rank of DySP and above) should take responsibility to call off the nakabandi at the given time and during the period, he should personally visit all points and supervise the alertness and effectiveness of the staff in the future”.
When contacted, SP (north) Bosco George said, “A nakabandi is organized to ensure that an accused is confined within a small area and is easily apprehended. A lack of proper manning at nakabandi points indicates a breach in the security system. One poorly manned nakabandi could adversely affect the state’s entire security set-up.”
However, he refused to comment on the memo issued to the SDPOs stating, “It is a departmental matter”.
Sources said that police officials, in view of the Mandir Suraksha Samelan which had been scheduled to be held on January 10, 2009, had directed, via a wireless message on January 9, all those officers in charge of police stations in the North Goa district to organize nakabandis on the intervening night of January 9 and 10 between 1 am and 5 am. The objective of the task was to avoid any incidents of temple desecration on the eve of such a major occasion.
“The SP (North) personally checked all nakabandi points and found that the staff deployed at points falling within the jurisdiction of the Panaji, Porvorim and Mapusa police stations abandoned their points at 4.30 am instead of 5 am,” said sources. The SP, visibly upset with the lackadaisical attitude of the policemen, issued a memo to the SDPOs on January 10 stating, “This shows that those in charge of the police stations have not properly monitored the nakabandi points.
A nakabandi point needs to be manned by at least a police sub inspector (PSI) and three or four constables with at least one firearm — an AK47 or SLR. But a majority of the nakabandi points wore an isolated look after 3.30 am, police sources added.
When questioned, a police officer who had been manning a nakabandi admitted to TOI that after checking thoroughly for the initial few hours of nakabandi, they left their checkpoints late in the night as there was no one on the road.

January 14,2009, The Times of India, Goa edition