Navigation

Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: Sept 15: Navi Mumbai police has had its share of bouquets and brickbats. If it has been in the news recently for the role that Police Commissioner Vijay Kamble and his team played in cracking the betting racket, they have also been hauled over the coals, albeit in private by disgruntled citizens about their inability to curb the rising petty thefts in Navi Mumbai. Vashi2Panvel.Com meets Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Vijay Kamble for an exclusive interview. Meet the man in action, the driving force behind the Navi Mumbai Police, Commissioner Vijay Kamble.

The Navi Mumbai Police is in news these days… it is being highly appreciated by all for uncovering big crimes, rackets like betting etc. but do you think that while all this happening, petty crimes are on the rise? E.g. Chain snatching, robbing car accessories etc.
Yes, I think my officers have been doing a good job this year as well as the last year. We are nabbing a criminal or a gang or cracking cases almost every fortnight. I congratulate my officers for being vigilant and breaking organized rackets – be it betting, house breaking and so on. But at the same time I can’t deny the fact that there has been a rise in petty thefts. Even though there has been a percentage increase in chain snatching as compared to last year, the rate of detection has also increased. According to the statistics, in the year 2004, of the 33-chain snatchings, only 7 were detected. Whereas this year 48 chain snatchings have been reported of which 10 are detected.

Do you think that such things are happening in the satellite city due to lack of visibility of the Navi Mumbai Police? If we compare the suburbs, we hardly find police outside on the rods. Is this clearing the way for these thieves?
There is lack of visibility because the strength of the police force is less as compared to the population of Navi Mumbai. I see two main reasons for this.
The growth of Navi Mumbai has been phenomenal in the past few years. The city has developed at a very fast rate. If we compare the population census of the year1991 and 2001, there has been a 126% increase.

The second reason being the police force does not match the strength as I said earlier. To be more precise, let me bring out some statistics. For a 1.4 crore population in Mumbai, there are 40,000 policemen which is not a very good number either. But the ratio is even lower in Navi Mumbai. For a population of around 25 lakh that is still growing, the police force is a limited number of 2000 officers only. In the last four to five years, three new townships have sprung up – Kharghar, Kamothe and Koparkhairne, with around 4 lakh of population adding up to the existing 25 lakh. The proportion of our police force is not matching.

Are the police here taking foolproof measures to solve such cases? Are there any specific or special measures that you would like to talk about?
Our officers have been working diligently to put an end to the felony in the city. Detection of crime and criminals has been rapid. We have taken up certain steps to keep things under control.
-We have compiled information about criminals, on the various offences, photographs of the criminals through computer software so that it becomes easy to maintain these records and keep a tab on their activities.

-All the Navi Mumbai police divisions come together to have a weekly meeting where information on various criminals is shared for better co-ordination.

-We have started a van service to solve the problem of staff shortage. One van will take all prisoners and criminals to the court instead of individual vans and police from every division. This will save a manpower and will bring petty crimes under control on days when these people are taken to court.

Do you think these petty thefts are done by the robbers in Navi Mumbai or are they from Thane and other places?
According to our statistics and observation, from all the crimes that have been reported here, local people commit only ten percent of the crime. Most of the criminals come from other parts of the city like Khopoli, Thane, rural Thane and suburbs, besides other states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

It was observed that dance bars led to heavy criminal activities. Has the ban on dance bars decreased criminal activity? Or have alternate crimes like suicide of the bar girls, thefts, etc come to notice?
Initially, when we used to nab criminals, they would get out on the pretext that they were people who have come to visit bars or for a drink or something like that. But after the ban has been imposed, the rate of criminal activity around the bars has decline to a large extent. I have not come across any other crime because of the ban.

What do you feel is the strength of the Navi Mumbai Police as compared to that of the police in Mumbai?
The strength of our team is that in spite of the fact that they are less in number, we have consistently been able to detect and solve rackets, petty thefts and maintain law and order in the city. At the same time, it is our weakness that we have shortage of staff, police stations and chowkies. We need more vehicles for patrolling for quick response to citizens’ woes. We need more of traffic policemen also. Besides this, I don’t think there is any other weakness per se.

Do you think the infrastructure provided to the Navi Mumbai Police is any different from that of the Mumbai Police? If yes, how? What difference does it make in the functioning here?
Our infrastructure is definitely not up to the mark as compared to the Mumbai Police. We do not have basic infrastructure in place. Whenever planning for the police force is done, it happens at the state level. In the beginning, only 1,300 officials were allotted for Navi Mumbai. This number has been increased to a little more than 2000. However it is still less. But the Government has taken this fact into consideration and hopefully, more staff should be appointed in the time to come.

Why doesn’t Kharghar have a police station? Considering the fact that the area has been a target for accidents other than crime.
As I had earlier mentioned, in a short period of five years, 3 new townships of Kharghar, Kamothe and Koparkhairne came up and we could not match up this growth with the same pace. However, we have completed all formalities with CIDCO now to start three police stations in the above-mentioned areas and if possible in Sanpada as well. Formalities are in the process for finalizing land for a Head Quarters that will be located in the Kalamboli area.

Recently a Belapur – based social worker appealed that Section 498A must be repealed from the IPC because he feels the police is misusing it and people are suffering from huge losses are they are found not guilty. What is your take in this issue?
This is ridiculous. Whatever sections have been introduced in the Indian Penal Code, have gone through a lot of discussion and study. No one can walk up and ask for these sections to be repealed. There may be exceptions when there may have been misuse of the Section by the police, but it has been brought to notice as well. We can’t keep scrapping the law like this for such things.

Are the policemen succumbing to pressure due to shortage in staff? (E.g. A constable committed suicide some time back.) Are you introducing any techniques, stress relievers to curb this problem?
A job in the police force is not what it looks like. It calls for large amounts of stress, pressure, working round the clock, giving up on a family life, or a social life. It is strenuous, both physically and mentally. The Navi Mumbai Police has been target to this for quite sometime now. We have regular programmes on Yoga, Art of Living, health check-ups etc. This has invoked a positive response from the staff. Today, the police have become more health conscious. The ‘look-good’ and ‘feel-good’ factor holds prominence for the staff. The have realized that it is very necessary to remain fit and healthy. Hence, we are also considering aspects like decreasing duty hours, introduce more man power, set up police lines, offer weekly offs, holidays etc.

It has been observed that prostitution and gambling is on increase in Navi Mumbai. What is your take on this?
I don’t see many cases on gambling reported. However, we can’t go on stopping individuals involved in prostitution. But we have definitely taken note of organized rackets in prostitution. We solved four or five cases last year as well as this year. Regular patrolling is going on and things are under control. If there are any such cases that the common man comes across then should inform us, we will look into the issue.

What according to you are the issues of concern to Navi Mumbai?
I don’t think there are very serious issues of concern to Navi Mumbai. So far anti-dacoit operations are on the increase by the force. Besides that there is nothing very serious.

The Killa Gaothan area in Belapur is subject to abuse of sand mining. In spite of the place being allowed only to store sand blocks, the port authorities have allowed private companies to conduct ship repair, causing ecological problems and noise pollution. Nothing has been done in spite of repeated complaints. What is your take on this?
As far this issue is concerned, it is more related to the port authorities and the corporation. However, if the police have a role to play in this, we will scrutinize the situation.

Do you have any clubs for recreation for the Navi Mumbai Police like that of the Mumbai police?No, we don’t have any clubs or things like that.

Do you conduct any leisure activities (functions programmes, etc) for your staff?
We have functions going on throughout the year for the police force. Be it the ‘Diwali-Melava’ during Diwali or sports activities, we encourage our staff to participate in all these. We also have programmes for women, scholarships for children, welfare programmes and some cultural programme.


Priya Jayakumar and Kasturi Dongaonkar