Mobile cop booth

Manoj Verma, the commissioner of Siliguri metropolitan police, inaugurates the mobile
police assistance booth in front of Bhaktinagar police station in Siliguri on Sunday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Siliguri, June 28: The Siliguri metropolitan police launched its first mobile police assistance booth here today to help local people living in remote areas under the Bhaktinagar police station communicate with them.

Manoj Verma, the commissioner of Siliguri metropolitan police, opened the booth at Chamakdangi, a village under the jurisdiction of Bhaktinagar police station, 20km from here.

"Many remote areas are located within our jurisdiction where people find it tough to communicate with or meet officials of the local police station. We have thus taken the initiative to introduce the facility of extending assistance from the police in these remote areas. The booth will move in these remote areas and the officials present in it will communicate with local people and provide them with all possible assistance."

"The residents can also approach us if they have problems related to other government departments. We in turn will apprise the officials of departments concerned of the problems mentioned by residents," he added.

Residents of Chamakdangi, a small hamlet on the right bank of the Teesta and on the fringes of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, welcomed the initiative. The hamlet is located in a secluded area and local people have to walk for 4km to reach NH31.

"There is no mode of communication between the highway and Chamakdangi. We are completely dependent on agriculture and had to take the walk amid forests to communicate with the police earlier," said Chompay Mukhia, a local resident.

Mukhia also spoke on the other problems they faced. "Everyday, around 40 students walk through the forests to the highway, board buses and other vehicles to reach their schools in Siliguri. There is no drinking water facility and we are dependent on wells. Elephant depredation is a regular problem. We also need an embankment on the bank of Teesta because every year, a considerable chunk of land is eroded by the river during monsoons."