BHUBANESWAR: It was bizarre when a group of 30-odd youths completely exposed the ineffectiveness of policing in the City as they held the posh Sahid Nagar area to ransom on Wednesday evening. Within a span of 20 minutes, they took control of the main business centre of the locality and ran amok, cocking a snook at the Commissionerate Police. This has left many in the Capital wondering whether the system of urban policing is in place yet. The local police for a good measure of the time were unaware of the proceedings when the bike-borne youths went on the rampage. Scores of cars and two-wheelers were smashed, shops damaged and ATMs vandalised. Local residents watched with awe as the vandals, brandishing swords, sticks and blunt weapons, roamed the locality without any fear for law, targeting people’s property and threatening their lives too. There was nothing that the police could do except playing catch-up when the youths were done with their riot act. The bikers entered the busy Sahid Nagar area taking the approach just opposite Satsang Vihar and immediately got down to business. Anything they came across bore their brunt - starting from Omfed stall to Stationery shop. People were terrorised when they offered objection. Even as the rioters were making a mockery of the law, Sahid Nagar Police was completely oblivious to what was going on. When a police team, including DCP Nitinjit Singh, reached Sahid Nagar and tried to locate the rioters, they had fled taking the railway level-crossing towards Bomikhal. The DCP and his team were either clueless to handle a situation like this or totally ill-equipped. Had the police been proactive, things would not have come to this pass. In fact, the whole incident was waiting to happen. The clash that had occurred on Tuesday night only spilled on to Wednesday because the police chose not to interfere. A fight between two groups from Sahid Nagar and Rasulgarh and Chakeisiani areas had come to the notice of the police but they played safe by not taking action. Sahid Nagar Police Station, like other police stations of the City, has two PCR vans at its disposal. “What were the two patrol parties doing when all this was going on,” wondered a shocked resident of the area. Was there a communication breakdown between the police station and the mobile vans? Besides, the Commissionerate Police also has a 24x7 control room with multi-telephony system which receives hundreds of distress calls every day. Did it go phut too? Commissioner of Police BK Sharma admitted that there was a late response from the local police. “However, we have already arrested six persons from both sides. Three teams are on the job and more culprits will be held soon,” he said.
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