Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 28: Much to the chagrin of Commissionerate Police, the cops patrolling along National Highway-5 and the adjoining areas are equipped with batons to tackle armed criminals, police sources told Orissa POST.
Unarmed cops face a huge threat to their lives while patrolling along the 29-km stretch from Jagatpur in Cuttack to Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar.
In usual practice, three policemen including an assistant-sub-inspector rank officer patrol the stretch in a PCR vehicle.
“Technically, an ASI of a PCR vehicle should be issued a gun which is not the case,” said a constable of a PCR vehicle manning the stretch.
Another cop of a PCR vehicle recalled his experience of a mishap case in which they had a face-off with a few armed miscreants near the Kathajodi bridge in Cuttack.
“Four miscreants were riding motorcycles in an inebriated state and when we tried to stop them one of them threatened us of dire consequences. However, they hurriedly fled the spot,” he said.
There are at least seven PCR vehicles manning the NH-5 area in between Jagatpur and Rasulgarh. Jagatpur, Chauliaganj, Madhupatna, Sadar, Balianta and Mancheswar police stations have deployed one PCR vehicle each on Jagatpur-Rasulgarh stretch.
