Residents of Ballygunge became nostalgic while describing the present woes that afflict people living there. They recalled how driving down the roads in Ballygune was a pleasure and parking a child's play. A stroll down the pavement was something morning-walkers eagerly looked forward to. "You didn't have to pay to park and be hassled by aggressive fee collectors who fleece you regularly. Our pavements had not been taken up by parked cars either. The area was out of bounds for hawkers and traffic was disciplined. It's a different place now," explained the 65-year-old I M Asthana, an architect at an interactive session between Sunny Park residents and the police on Sunday.

Traffic problems remained the focus of the session of this upscale area of the city where crime or law and order problem are rare occurrences. "Ballygunge, particularly Queen's Park, Sunny Park and Ballygunge Circular Road, was dotted with old bungalows. Majority of them have been replaced by highrises. The place is now inhabited by a far bigger population. Each family has at least two cars, if not more. So traffic has become a big headache for us," said Kishore Bhimani, well-known sports journalist and a Sunny Park resident.

Around a hundred residents of Ballygunge, Gariahat, Karaya, Roland Road and Tivoli Court gathered at Sunny Park to voice their ideas and feelings to a team of senior police officers, which included the assistant commissioner (traffic) D B Bose, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ballygunge Police Station Sukumar Ghosh and East Traffic Guard OC Aloke Sanyal. The interactive session – the second one under a unique initiative by Kolkata Police commissioner R K Pachnanda to improve communication with citizens – turned out to be a lively interface that brought several issues to the fore.

While residents urged the police to take note of the issues, the latter suggested ways to make sure these can be addressed quickly and better through a more collaborated effort. Sukumar Ghosh, for instance, urged residents to "play the police". "We get calls from you complaining that microphones are being played late at night. I assure you that action is taken within 5 to 7 minutes of a complaint. So, make sure you call us and let us know," said Ghosh.

But what about illegal parking and encroachments, some asked. The pavement along La Martiniere School remains blocked by a tree, several electric boxes and a garbage dump, pointed out Ramesh Munshi, a Tivoli Court resident. "You have to get off and walk on the road which is dangerous considering the volume of traffic. Aren't pavements meant for pedestrians to walk," asked Munshi. The tree and the garbage dump will be taken care of, he was assured.

Ghosh assured them that they would implement the government policy of not allowing new hawkers in any area.

"There is an attempt to cap the upper limit of hawkers being allowed in a particular area. This would clear off a lot of encroachment from the pavements," he said.

But that wasn't enough, interjected Sunny Park resident Arvind Bhorilal. "Even 10 years ago, parking was allowed only on one side of the road. Now, you have two rows of cars parked on either side with barely any space to walk. We have children and elderly people living here who have to risk their lives and walk on the road. said Bhorilal.

Lack of adequate manpower often forced them to compromise, admitted the policemen. "If you keep us informed, we can prioritize depending on the urgency of the complaint. It's not possible to have policemen posted at every nook and corner. If we know what's happening in the area, we can deploy our men better," said Aloke Sanyal, OC East Traffic Guard.

Residents voiced their concern about the narrow lane at Tivoli Court, cramped further by parked cars. Locals were to be partly blamed for this, admitted Sunny Park resident Devendra Pal Singh Gujral. "Each household owns two to three cars and when they hit the road, congestion is bound to happen. But better traffic management can help improve things," he said. Following the parking regulations can solve half the problems, felt policemen. "Don't park just about anywhere. And in case of a fire, don't take chances by trying to douse it. Call the fire brigade and the police," advised Ghosh.

Some shadow figures were lurking in corners of the locales of Kolkata where some ceremony was happening. They emerge out on the road in police uniform or in civil cloths after they zeroed in on some women returning home from the ceremony. They came on their side assuring them that they were cops. They politely told these gullible women that it was their duty to escort them home safe as the place became notorious for snatching and robbery. In no moment, one of them pulled out a handcerchief asking the ladies to put their jewellery in the napkin. Impressed with their ‘good intent’, the women readily followed the instruction. They would even show fake identity cards of police, if any suspicion arises. Reaching home, they handover the napkin to the ladies. Ladies were now too impressed with the cops and their helpful nature. They bid adieu. These ‘Cops’ disappeared into the darkness of the night as fast as they emerged out of darkness. Minute later these women untie the napkin-knots to find to their horror that some brick-chips were there in the napkin.

These youths posing allegedly as cops already had robbed at least 50 women in the city and its fringes. Kolkata Police finally managed to solve the mystery behind these crimes, where the middle-aged women were made targets by a fraud racket. The gang used to operate with a unique modus operandi. Posing as policemen the fraudsters used to approach middle aged women. Scaring them of increasing snatching, they used to take off her ornaments assuring her to escort with the valuables up to her residence. After reaching home when the woman opens the ornament bag only to find-out that she had been duped as by then the fake cops are at large with the ornaments.

The detective chief called a special meeting with officers from police stations where the gang had looted people. Officers from the detective department shared information they collected individually. These information coupled with some CCTV footage helped police to bust the gang.

It was a planned operation for the cops of Lake Police Station near Dhakuria Bridge. The police patrol team suspected some thing wrong and challenged the youths. Noticing real cops, two of them managed to flee but two others were nabbed. Probe revealed that both were the members of the Maharashtra based Kepmar gang who were on free run for past five months.

The officers of detective department, who were probing these crimes, revealed that the gang originally hailed from Maharashtra's Thane. They had robbed about 30 women within the Kolkata Police's jurisdiction and many more in Salt Lake and Baranagar. The gang comprised of more than 14 fraudsters. They came in a group and took shelter at small lodges and guest houses in places like Howrah and Bandel. The gang then divided themselves into smaller groups, each of which had person who can speak Bengali fluently. They had fake ID cards and their sober disposition helped them pull off the act without raising suspicion.

On March 17, the first citizens meet was held at Alipore, one of the city’s wealthiest localities. Alipore is apparently among the most peaceful areas. Yet, some of the crimes most foul have taken place here. A few years ago, the wife of an industrialist was killed by her domestic help who had been recruited only two days before the crime. During the investigation, police had a tough time identifying the domestic help as the family did not make any verification before engaging the youth.

Crime committed by domestic help is one of our major concerns. “Our records show even hard-core criminals are accessing wealthy households in the guise of domestic helps. Unless the citizens are aware of this problem, such crimes cannot be prevented,” said a senior detective department officer of Kolkata Police.

 “It is still a huge problem,” said Bhikham Chand Pugalia, a businessman and president of Satyam Tower Welfare Association president. “We find it difficult to get our domestic helps registered at police stations. The domestic helps are scared and refuse to get clicked for registration in police records. If we insist, they simply leave. So, most of us have compromise on that,” he explained. Narendra Tulsian, secretary of Alipore Citizens’ Forum, came up with a solution: “Let’s take the photograph of our domestic help on some other pretext.

Deputy Commissioner (South) D P Singh lauded the change in the attitude and approach of citizens compared to when he had met them first. “They are now much more aware of their security loopholes. A closer encounter like this gives them a lot of confidence. I was very impressed with their plan of setting up a surveillance network by which almost every corner of Alipore can be put under watch.” 

Shubra Agarwal, a businesswoman, explained how she finds it difficult to drive her car up to her house on Judges Court Road every evening. “From 5 pm to 9 pm, the road is suddenly made both-ways. For the rest of the day, it is one-way. I have to keep waiting and waiting for free passage to drive into my own house. I really do not know the logic behind making Judges Court Road both-ways after 5 pm,” she complained. 

Several elderly citizens pointed out new encroachments on the pavements. “We take a stroll every morning and that is crucial for our health at this age. But of late, we have found pavements increasingly being occupied by hawkers, garbage dumps, old furniture and extension of shops,” said Aravind Jhunjunwala, a resident. 

Alipore police station officers meticulously took note of every complaint. DC South instructed his officers to see to it that each complaint is dealt with promptness and sincerity. DC South asked every citizen to come up to the police with any complaint they have. “We are there for you 24X7. If you notice anything suspicious, share it with us. Your lead might give us a big breakthrough in a complicated crime or thwart an imminent subversive activity,” he said.

It was a spectacular display of meticulously disciplined exercises on March 10 at Body Guard Lines ground At Alipore on the occasion of Combined Parade of Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police.

In the programme, the Governor of West Bengal, His Excellency M K Narayanan took the salute and presented medals to the recipients of Gallantry service and meritorious services.

This year, there were 39 recipients of Gallantry Services and 3 recipients of Meritorious Services. Planning, Development and Power minister Manish Gupta was the special guest on the occasion.

All senior police officers, including Commissioner of Police Kolkata, R K Pachnanda and Director General of Police (DGP) Naparajit Mukherjee were present in the function.

The city police on Saturday evening presented an amazingly colourful show — Kolkata Police Tattoo — at Rabindra Sarovar stadium with horses dancing to the lively tunes and cops of both state and Kolkata police showing a spectacular show of ‘khukri’, rifle in the verdant field of the stadium.

First of its kind in the city to such a grand scale, tattoo is very popular world-wide. "Tattoo" is derived from the Dutch word "tap toe", which means to turn the tap off, and goes back to European military tradition of the 17th century.

In the presence of the Chief Minister Smt. Mamata Banerjee, the Commissioner of police R.K Pachnanda flagged off the programme. The stadium looked like a Roman Colossium with huge gates through which different bands started coming out on the field. Apart from the city police, state police’s eastern frontier rifles (EFR) and Border Security Force participated in this unique drill.

“A brainchild of the Commissioner of Police R.K Pachnanda, the basic idea of the programme was to showcase our unique and disciplined drills to the people of this city and also entertain them”, said S.K. Gazmer, Joint Commissioner, Armed Police.

"The boys were practising hard for the past 15 days and we think people have enjoyed the display," he added.

This is the first time the Kolkata Police has organised a tattoo on a grand scale. The only other time a tattoo was held was in 2009, during the annual sports at Bodyguard Lines, Alipore.

It was an eventful year. When I took over as the Commissioner of Police of Kolkata, the assembly elections were on the anvil. So, facilitating a fair and peaceful election was my foremost challenge. Kolkata Police toiled round the clock  and ensured a fair, free and peaceful election. After the elections, the Hon’ble Chief Minister Minister Mamata Banerjee wanted both proactive policing for effective  law and order and security as also a crime free Kolkata and further wanted the police to reach out to the public. On 1 September, 2011, by a historic decision of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, our area more than doubled. As many as 17 new police stations, 10 traffic guards and 2 Divisions were added to the existing 48 police stations and six divisions, to be managed within the existing resources. Kolkata Police, not only successfully met the challenge, but also ensured a smooth puja. All officers and personnel worked untiringly to achieve this. My salute to them for the  kudos received by the public – both in terms of law and order, crime and  an efficient traffic management system.

With the increase in our jurisdiction, we have now been focusing more on intense patrolling, crime prevention and detection and law and order management. The security of the citizens is our foremost concern and we endeavour to be vigilant always. We are updating technology so that we are better equipped to respond to different situations.

In the last one year, Kolkata Police has unearthed many fake currency rackets and seized over Rs.1 crore of fake currency. Our information also helped other agencies arrest dreaded criminals and terrorists.

            On December 9, we were struck by one of the worst tragedies in the city. A devastating fire at a South Kolkata hospital, AMRI, took the lives of 92 people, mostly patients, admitted in the hospital. I wish to express my deep sense of grief at the loss of lives in the AMRI fire and I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims of the tragedy. At the same time, I am proud of the officers and men from Kolkata Police, especially the commandoes and Disaster Management Group (DMG) and the Fire Brigade personnel as also the residents of Panchanantala, who risked their lives to save several patients and other people trapped in the fire.

Under the inspirational presence and leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Kolkata Police was able to maintain law and order and also fulfill all formalities.

Kolkata Police, thereafter,  had to gear up for the police arrangements for the Christmas and New Year celebrations and ensured smooth law and order and traffic arrangements.

The New Year is a harbinger of a new hope and aspirations. Kolkata Police is aware of the heightened expectations of the citizens.  Ever since we have worn khaki or white,  we are on duty 24 X 7. The security and safety of the citizens comes first. Our own personal benefit and comfort comes last – always and every time.  I wish every citizen of this city a joyous and prosperous new year.

It was a grand investiture ceremony of Kolkata police where both police personnel and civilians were awarded for their outstanding act of bravery, extra-ordinary courage and integrity for serving the society and people and of course exemplary dedication to make the city a better place to live in. The awardees included the Mayor of Kolkata, Sovan Chatterjee, who on August 24, 2011, rescued an injured teenager from the road and saved her life by organizing timely medical intervention at a hospital.

But the ceremony was taken to a different height when the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave away awards to 66 youths of Panchanantala at Dhakuria who did not think twice to risk them lives and jumped into the rescue operation alongside the disaster-management group of Kolkata Police to save lives of hapless trapped patients inside the ill-fated AMRI Hospital on December 9, 2011.

At the ceremony, the chief minister announced that jobs would be given in the Green Police unit to these youths. Giving away awards to each of the 66 youths, the Chief Minister said “We have decided to offer them jobs as Green Police if they want.” The civic police volunteers, known as Green Police, assist the Kolkata Police in traffic management and crowd-controlling. Of the 66 youths who were awarded for their bravery, two could not be present as they were undergoing treatment in hospital after falling ill from inhaling the smoke.

The Chief Minister also congratulated the Kolkata Police commandos and disaster management group personnel for rescuing a number of patients from the hospital. It was a long journey since 1856 when the modern police force was born under the leadership of Sir Samuel Wauchope, the first commissioner of police to current commissioner of police Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda. The colourful ceremony was enlivened by the march past of different divisions and wings of Kolkata Police.

The Kolkata Police also rewarded those unsung heroes who silently do their best to help a fellow citizen by going out of their way, rescue a person from the danger, save lives by taking the person-in-distress to hospital or to police station. Keshar Kamal Gupta was one such person who sacrificed his life to rescue a mother and her three-year-old baby from electrocution in water-logged street, or Sheikh Moinuddin who caught an armed snatcher who was fleeing after snatching a gold-chain, or Karu Yadav, a cabbie, who deposited cash Rs 2.5 lakh left behind by a commuter, to police station.

Besides, Central Division of the city police was declared as the best division, the 3rd Battalion of Armed Police Force was declared as the best Armed Police Force, Amherst Street police station was announced as the best police station in the city and Shyam Bazar traffic guard was declared as the best Traffic Guard.

48 police personnel were given away awards.
NISHTA PADAK was awarded to -

Anil Kar, Assistant Commissioner, Detective Department
Ajay Adhikary, Inspector, Headquarters Force
Mohammed Nurul Anwar, Inspector, South Division

20 police personnel were given away
PRASHONGSHA PADAK

Zakir Hossain, Assistant Commissioner, Traffic DepartmentSukumar Chakraborty, Inspector

Namroz Ahmed Khan, Inspector, South Division
Balai Kumar Nath, Inspector, Detective Department
Sushanta Dhar, Inspector, Special Task Force
Amit Kumar Nath, Inspector, Traffic Department
Satijiban Nath, Assistant Commissioner, Traffic Department
Barinder Singh Kabrewal, Inspector, Special Task Force
Sukriti Kumar Poddar, Inspector, Kolkata Armed Police
Pabitra Kumar Mukherjee, Inspector, Special Branch
Sadhan Kr Ghosh, Sub Inspector, Enforcement Branch
Amit Sengupta, Sub Inspector, South Division
Sk Qutubuddin, Sergeant, Special Task Force
Sacchidanand Sarkar, Subedar, 2nd Battalion, K.A.P
Shib Ranjan Sinha, Sub Inspector, South Division
Paritosh Kumar Mishra, Assistant Sub Inspector, 7th Battalion, K.A.P
Rezaul Haque , Assistant Sub Inspector, Central Division
Jitendra Nath Panda, Constable, Central Division
Anilbaran Poti, Constable, Central Division
Subodh Ranjan Ganguly, Constable, Central Division

SEBA PADAK

Prosenjit Som, Inspector, Traffic Department
Priya Das, Lady Inspector, Head Quarter Force
Debasish Ghosh, Inspector, Traffic Department
Biplab Kumar Singha, Inspector, Traffic Department
Gautam Kr Das, Inspector, Special Task Force
Supratik Bandyopadhyay, Sub Inspector, Detective Department
Ramal Kanti Saha, Sub Inspector, Special Branch
Subarna Dutta Chowdhury, Sub Inspector, North Division
Nil Kantha Roy, Sub Inspector, Detective Department
Monoj Dutta, Sub Inspector, Special Task Force
Soumn Bandyopadhyaya, Sub Inspector, Special Task Force
Amarendra Saha, Sergeant, Traffic Department
Prasanta Heto, Sergeant, Special Task Force
Barun Kr. Chowdhury, Sergeant, Special Task Force
Subhash Biswas, Assistant Sub Inspector, Enforcement Branch
Gabriel Soren, Assistant Sub Inspector, Special Branch
Pachugopal Mukherjee, Assistant Sub Inspector, 2nd Battalion, K.A.P
Subhro Majumdar, Constable, Reserve Force
Bibhuti Bhushan Sarkar, Constable, Reserve Force
Narayan Ch Chakraborty, Constable, Police Training School
Jhuma Rani Mondal, Lady Constable, Detective Department
Ulfat Tamang, Sepoy, 3rd Battalion, K.A.P
Kanai Kotal, Sepoy, 3rd Battalion, K.A.P
Kinkar Banerjee, Police Driver, 2nd Battalion, K.A.P
Subhas Sharma, Assistant Sub Inspector, Mounted Police

With the series victory over theWest Indiesin his pocket, a relaxed Dhoni made sure that he visited his “old friends” at the police headquarters. Earlier in February 2010, his love for old motorbikes led Dhoni to the city police headquarters at Lalbazar. Dhoni knew that a number of old motorbikes are lying in Lalbazar and he used the opportunity of being in the city for the second Test againstSouth Africato visit the police headquarters.

The highlight of his first trip to the police headquarters last February was riding a Yamaha RD-350, a lightweight motorbike from the Seventies that was parked inside Lalbazar. Labazar has had two such bikes. A bonding grew instantly.

After a wholesome lunch, Mahi showered a fulsome praise on the city police, particularly traffic cops for keeping Kolkata streets congestion-free. “He told us that he found the city’s traffic better managed than most other cities. Mahi emphasized that this has been quite an old perception of his about the city. He had this feeling even before he became a national cricketer, when he would often visit the city,” a senior officer said.

But this second visit was a longer one with MSD, whose wife Sakshi is a Kolkata girl. He spent over two hours with the cops. Dressed in half sleeves paired with jeans, Mahi entered Lalbazar at 1.10 pm. His first stop was commissioner R.K. Pachnanda’s office on the first floor of the main building, where the entire police top brass was waiting for him.

He was next taken to the briefing room, where the cops gifted him a memento embellished with the flags of various departments of Kolkata police. “We felicitated him on behalf of Kolkata police for leading the World Cup-winning team,” said Jawed Shamim, joint commissioner of police (headquarters).

Lunch followed the felicitation. “We had arranged for everything from Indian vegetarian dishes to continental and Chinese. Dhoni chose the Chinese,” the officer said. Dhoni then delighted the cops with stories about cricket. “He spoke very highly of his teammates. He was all praise for Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh,” said an officer who calls himself a “big fan” of the skipper. Police officers found him very humble and friendly.

In the evening of 14.10.11, a get-together with the ‘Pronam’ members was organized at Allen Park in celebration of the festival of Eid & Vijaya. All the fifty ‘Pronam’ members of Park street police station area joined the program. Interaction was made with them on various projects of Kolkata police. They were  assured of with all sort of co-operation. The elderly citizens appreciated the role of Kolkata police and the program ended in a sweet note with a pleasant heart felt wishes from the elderly members.

Since we have worn uniform, our puja is to ensure that your festivity remains unspoilt.

A lot of planning and efforts go on behind our preparation for the puja just to ensure that you puja becomes an unalloyed joy; that you never get stuck in snarl too long; that your pandal hopping remains smooth. So, I thought I put some of the challenges we face and overcome during the festive seasons into a perspective.

It’s a year-long preparation that culminates into our on-the-field exercises all through five successive nights, starting from Shasthi to Dashami, the first day of immersion.  Durga puja to us is all about tackling numerous challenges like managing huge pedestrian traffic, particularly, near big puja pandals during puja days, keeping the mammoth traffic rolling, being extra alert and vigilant with possible threat of terrorist attack on the back of our mind. Besides, these there were uncertain weather and power situation and bad roads near big puja pandals.

In fact, our elaborate traffic arrangement itself matches any festivity if you look at its extent and magnitude. Besides, the nitty-gritty of traffic circulation plan, we construct barricades near puja pandals. Regulation and channelising of vehicular and pedestrian traffic is a major challenge. Then there were series of meetings at police station level, divisional level and of course at central level. All through we have to coordinate with power utility CESC and Fire Service, our two major partners in the process.

So on a daily basis, almost round the clock, we had to coordinate with public utlility services, inspect roads, intervene with voluntary agencies, PWD, CESC, Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners. The city police construct barricades near puja pandals.  The officers-in-charge of police stations had to interact with puja committees on day-to-day basis. We also had to put a strict vigil over forcible collection of chanda (donation or subscription). We engage a large number of NCC volunteers.

A festivity of such a colossal scale involves some risks, too, keeping in mind the security senario across the nation. Terrorists choose to strike, when casualty is likely be immense. So we carried out a massive check-up at guest houses, hotels and other places. We set up watch-towers for a better ‘bird-eye’ vigil at big puja pandals. At the same time, we kept rounding up known snatchers, lifters, pickpockets for a crime-free ambience. Along side the huge security exercises, we keep in mind not to be a spoiler. Our police excess should never dampen your festive spirit.

Just deployment-wise, it is a massive man-power management exercise. There is a deployment of 24,000 policemen, 3,000 home guards, 1500 green police volunteers, 1500 NCC and other volunteers forces and traffic wardens. During day-time, there is a skeleton deployment of forces for traffic movement and anti-crime measures. During day there is more insisting parking near pandals.

Durga puja – 2011 is over and we have less than one year now for the next Durga Puja – 2012. We are collecting feed backs from all officers for implementation for the next year, while preparing Police and other arrangements for the next year. Our annual examination is just over. Hopefully, we have passed the exam gracefully. You are the best judge.