Villupuram police evolve planto tackle self-immolation bids

The acts are a weekly feature at the Collectorate during the grievance meet

Fire extinguishers: Two buckets with wet woollen blankets kept ready at the Villupuram Collectorate.

Perturbed by a series of self-immolation bids at the Villupuram Collectorate, the police have stepped up their vigil to prevent such acts.

Going by the record of self-immolation bids by villagers after assembling at the Collectorate, particularly on Mondays when the Collector accepts petitions, the police guarding the complex have hit upon a novel plan to respond to such acts instead of scrambling for emergency assistance. Although most people survive the self-immolation, the duty police have a tough time on Mondays amid all the high drama. They have stepped up their alert level so that they need not run around in search of material to douse the fire.

The police have kept woollen blankets soaked in buckets of water round-the-clock at the entrance of the Villupuram Collectorate and office of the Superintendent of Police.

On an average, Villupuram Collectorate records at least two cases of self-immolation attempts every week.

A tough task

According to an official, “in spite of intensive frisking by the police, there have been instances when a section of petitioners manage to sneak into the Collectorate through the multiple entry points with bottles of kerosene or petrol for self-immolaion bids.

“The duty police often realise what is happening only after desperate folks have set themselves on fire and then are forced to run helter skelter to procure water or other materials to put out the fire,” he said.

An official said the growing trend among the “petitioners” was to try to immolate themselves in a bid to draw the attention of the authorities although a mechanism was in place to resolve each and every grievance.

“All the petitions submitted during the Grievances Day every Monday are sorted and sent to the departments concerned for further action. All petitions are treated equally,” he said.

“One suspects that such acts are designed to create drama to catch the attention of the authorities and gain priority over other petitioners,” he added.

In several such instances, the petitioners are detained by the police for interrogation and let off after a stern warning.

While immolation bids are often held to draw the attention of the government machinery or the media, police feel that registration of cases could act as a deterrent.