CUTTACK: Alarmed by a series of recent robberies, villagers of Siaria and Biswanthapur under Narasighpur block of the district have decided to take care of its own security. Every night, the men patrol their villages under Kanpur police limits till the early hours of the morning. In the last few days, dacoity and burglary cases have become a regular affair in the villages in the absence of police patrolling.
Over 30 houses have been looted in the two villages in the last 10 nights. Villagers alleged that although they had lodged police complaints, no action was taken. Instead of investigating and detecting the cases, the local police remained silent by registering the cases only, the villagers alleged.
As the law enforcing agency failed to detect a single case and curb the menace, residents of the two villages convened a Gram Sabha where they decided to take care of their own security. They resorted to community patrolling to guard their villages.
As per the decision, a group of 50 to 60 youths have been guarding their village every night from 11 pm to 5 am in shifts by holding sticks and torch light for the last three days. As a result, not a single loot or burglary case has been reported from the villages in the last three days, they said.
Athagarh SDPO Debendra Kumar Mallick, however, said, "We are conducting investigations and efforts are on to detect all the cases reported from the villages within a week. The residents might have been guarding their villages for own security but it is not a police sponsored programme."
Meanwhile, inspired by Siaria and Biswanthapur, villagers in the surrounding areas have also started their own patrol squads.