The rising crime rate in Angul-Talcher industrial belt reportedly due to police complacency has put the lives of the people at stake.
Besides regular thefts and burglaries in the belt, snatching of valuable things at gun-point on the roads is on the rise.
Now-a-days people fear to travel at odd hours. In place of sharp weapons like knives and swords, the miscreants are now armed with guns.
In one such incident, an engineer was injured in firing by unidentified miscreants on Wednesday afternoon.
The engineer, Sanjay Parida, was travelling with his family when he was intercepted by two motorcycle-borne youths at Kangula chowk near Angul town during daytime. They robbed ` one lakh from him at gun point. In Angul, even the house of a Tehsildar was robbed. Similarly, people of Talcher are also fed up with regular burglary from houses and shops in broad daylight.
Angul SP Narasingh Bhol admitted to the rise in criminal activities and attributed it to the rapid industrialisation in the belt. “We are making efforts to nab the culprits and have arrested some recently,” he added.