Some months ago, in the wake of a series of thefts and other crimes in, bicycle patrolling was launched in the city with much fanfare by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. However, unlike the two-wheeler patrolling system, bicycle patrolling is yet to gain visibility.
A senior police officer said the system, under which two cycles were distributed to each of the 135 police stations in the city, was carried out by personnel in three shifts. Policemen would move around places where people congregated in large numbers and in areas identified as crime-prone. Police personnel on bicycles would also be present around school premises during day time to help traffic personnel and could be seen pedalling in slum tenements or areas known to be hotspots of trouble to keep a tab on anti-social activities.
Unlike the two-wheeler patrolling system, which has been finetuned to such an extent that patrolling of pre-defined areas is never given the go-by because of the maintenance of patta books, the bicycle patrolling system has not been that regular and no system similar to the books is followed though a register is being maintained of bicycle patrolling in the police stations. Social activist V. Rama Rao acknowledged that the police personnel were trying their best and could be seen on bicycles at odd hours, silently moving around the locality and on arterial roads. Shopkeepers and commercial establishments found it helpful, he noted. But he said improvements could still be in the bicycle patrolling system to make it more effective like two-wheeler patrolling.
In a fix
It is not just the waiting press corps, but policemen too who are foxed by some celebrities and influential people who zip past them in luxury vehicles to enter Apollo Hospitals, where Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is undergoing treatment.
While patients in taxis or personal vehicles mostly do not have tinted glass on the windows, many others do.
According to the provisions of Motor Vehicle Act, motorists are allowed to fix on their windows, tinted glass that allows up to 70 per cent visibility. But the windows of vehicles of many celebrities do not allow for any visibility at all.
With many vehicles having similar fancy numbers, not only the media but also police personnel on security duty are clueless about who is entering and leaving in these vehicles.
Media personnel and visitors have been asking police personnel if ordinary motorists would be allowed to get away with such tinted glass.
Traffic police sources say that they launched a drive against the use of tinted glass following a court order about two years ago, making errant motorists pay a spot fine of Rs. 100, but they have not followed it up since.
(Reporting by R. Srikanthand K. Manikandan)
