ROURKELA: Rourkela MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak on Thursday took a dig at the collapse of law and order in steel city.
In a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, he said back-to-back gang rape of minor girls is unheard of in the city which has also seen a considerable and worrying rise in murders, robberies, gang war and other crimes. While police’s laxity is to be blamed for the state of affairs, not everything is in order within the department. Two days back, an IIC was shifted to the district police headquarters after a female sub-ordinate levelled allegation of misconduct against him, said the legislator. He said criminals and anti-social elements gather at isolated spots in the city as the police remains a mute spectator to their nefarious activities.
On the day, a host of voluntary organisations, following a demonstration, asked ADM and Rourkela Municipal Corporation commissioner Ashutosh Kulkarni to take steps for ensuring a safe environment for women in the city.
The steel city has never been so vulnerable with two cases of gang-rape of minor girls reported within just 24 hours. As if this was not enough, a Class IX student of Guru Nanak Khalsa School was molested by her 55-year-old PET teacher on September 21.
Apart from this, areas within Rourkela Police District (RPD) covering a major portion of Panposh and entire Bonai sub-division from January till date have reported at least 18 murder cases. In the latest incident, a youth was hacked to death and his brother-in-law critically injured in an assault on ring road near Bhagwati fuel station on Wednesday.
On August 3, man was found pounded to death on Durgapur hill near Vaishno Devi temple while on August 8, the body of a man was found lying along the boundary wall of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) near Tilkanagar.
DIGP and SP of Rourkela Brijesh Kumar Rai said all steps are being taken to book the culprits, ensure faster justice for the victims and ensure safe environment for women and the elderly in the city.