Law & order maintenance & surveillance need to have physical surveillance: Rayagada Police
Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, July 4: The second set of Covid Warriors other than the medical personnel is none other than police. Both these warrior groups need to be proactive and grounded through their physical presence for 24X7 days: one inside the hospital & near the affected and the other outside the hospital but at nook & corner of the entire district. Apart from their vigilant activities to carry out the Covid-19 promulgations as priority, Rayagada police under the leadership of a young & dynamic IPS officer named Sri Vivekanand Sharma has been extremely successful in ensuring the rule of law in containing several illicit activities in the entire district.
Apart from strict vigil in the operational areas of fifteen police stations where swift actions were taken against the offenders of burglaries & murders and facilitating justice to the affected, Rayagada Police has actualised the maxim “We dare & We care” in true spirit. Job analysis of just the past month of June reflects some very important actions taken against the violators. 604 litres of liquor was seized & 1950 litres of Mahua Wash & illicit distilled liquor destroyed. 3014.09 kgs of contraband ganja amounting approximately Rs.3 crores was seized alongwith twelve two wheelers, four wheelers and heavy vehicles and 13 accused persons were arrested u/s- 20(b) (ii) (c)/29 Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act-1985 & forwarded to court.
“Law & order maintenance and controlling the Covid norm violators can not be done through digital mode. We need to be physicall present in the field, sensitive to the people & at the same time strict towards violators. This really puts lots of pressure on the police force functional on ground zero including the risk of gettin infected with Covid. We don’t have intention to punish the violators at first place. Initially we issue warnings; but there are few of them as habitual offenders, who consciously and repeatedly break the norms. We don’t have other options but to adhere to the state guidelines”, said a senior police officer.
Covid norm violators have paid a price for their serious aberrations. A hefty amount of Rs. 47,36,300 was collected from 4760 numbers of motor vehicle law breakers. Fines amounting Rs.16,20,000 was collected from 5476 numbers of mask defaulters & Rs.1,55, 300 was collected from 247 numbers of persons who did not maintain social distance. Beyond these kind of fines and punishments, police was round the clock monitored the entry at cross-border points. Sharma almost personally paid visits to these points to strengthen monitoring mechanism and encourage his police force. It was almost regular walkathons for Sharma to move in nook and corners of Rayagada town at the outset of lock downs and shut down, make the people and vendors aware about the norms and at times, issue warnings and collect fines on the spot and even seize the establishment violating norms.
Filling the state exchequer with around Rs.4 crores in just a month is not small thing. Sharma has been quick in putting the activities of police in his official twitter page maintaining utmost transparency. He is considered as a pro-people administrator & super manager in effective Covid management. Some of these actions are also responsible in turning Rayagada district from Red to Green Zone. He is not yet contended with his actions as there are miles to go till the Corona active cases become zero along with Test Positivity Rate(TPR) & Bed Occupancy Rate.
