PUNJAB: The Manchester of India, Ludhiana, is the largest city of Punjab and a hub of education and industry. Obviously, it has metropolitan characteristics needing an active police force with an ever-vigilant women’s wing. The city also has a large population of senior citizens, many of whom live alone as their children live abroad, or have simply abandoned them.
Police Commissioner Rakesh Agarwal, a 1999 batch IPS officer of Punjab cadre, has given some extra work to his force: they have to go chat up the city’s elderly once in, say, every fortnight, keep them in a good mood and solve their day-to-day problems. And the women’s wing trains girls in self-defence besides providing them pickand- drop at night.
So, people like Harbhajan Singh, a retired bank official, are a happy lot. “The policemen come and sit with us for some time; it feels good. One of our friends had a personal problem, the police helped him to resolve it,’’ says Singh. And for young Arti, the pickand- drop service is unique. “I have used it once when it was night and raining heavily. I called them up and a PCR vehicle came in about five minutes to take me home from my office. It was a nice experience.’’ The Police Commissioner has started ‘Elderly Connect’ and in the last one year, the Ludhiana Police have linked up with some 2,000 senior citizens.
And the ‘Shakti Team’ has so far trained 3,200 young women in self-defence. Police Commissioner Rakesh Agarwal says several senior citizens feel lonely and neglected or they become victims of domestic violence. The ‘Elderly Connect’ focuses on them. “Police officers of all ranks are involved. They have to visit the elderly at least once a month and discuss and address their concerns about health, safety and security. They should be their first point of contact in distress,” says Agarwal.
As a part of measures to boost self-confidence in yet another vulnerable section, the young girls, the Shakti Team trains students in self-defence. More than 3,000 users from Ludhiana have registered on the Shakti App in the last three months. Shakti seminars are conducted in more than 30 organisations, including government schools, colleges, private institutions and factories, said Agarwal. He said initially local martial arts experts and national and international level women players were roped in to conduct such self-defence seminars in educational institutions.
“Soon we realised the need for the inhouse talent for such sessions. So we sent five women constables from SAANJH for training from these master trainers”, said the police commissioner. These constables form the core of the Shakti team.
“This team goes to schools, colleges and organisations employing female staff. The techniques taught include the use of cell-phone, hairpin, water bottle, punches and kicks to defend self. The hostile situations include attack from the front, back, knife assault, pulling of hair or a dupatta,’’ he said. Raminder Singh, Principal of Government Polytechnic College, Rishi Nagar, Ludhiana, says the women constables gave two-hour training to 200 college girls.
“These students told us that the training was the need of the hour. All girls in our college have downloaded the Shakti app on their mobile phones.” Since las t year more than 80 women have availed of the pick-and-drop facility started by the police for women working at late night hours. The service is available from 9 pm to 6 am.
The women can contact police by dialing 112, 1098 (dedicated women helpline) and use Shakti App to avail of this facility. If a woman has no vehicle, she is dropped to her home in a PCR van. If she wants to use her own vehicle, she is escorted by the PCR vehicle to her home. CCTV cameras have also been put up and a dedicated team of female constables is stationed at night.
SHAKTI TEAM FOR SELF-DEFENCE
As a part of measures to boost self-confidence in yet another vulnerable section, the young girls, the Shakti Team trains students in self-defence. More than 3,000 users from Ludhiana have registered on the Shakti App in the last three months. Shakti seminars are conducted in more than 30 organisations, including government schools, colleges, private institutions and factories. The techniques taught include
the use of cell-phone, hairpin, water bottle, punches and kicks to defend self.