the goan I network
MARGAO
Where have all the robots gone? Madgavkars and Navelkars are asking this question as the police control vans known as robots have not been seen on the city roads for patrol duties.
The reason is not far to seek and the absence of the robots on road patrolling is either attributed to the delay on the part of the Goa police to repair the defunct vehicles or send new vehicles at the disposal of the Margao police station.
None other than Leader of the Opposition and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat realised the bitter truth that the Margao police station has been functioning without the police control van and other vehicles or quite some time. The Margao MLA came to know of the ground reality when he made a request to the Margao police to depute a police control van on the Old station road to check anti-social activities and waste dumping at unauthorised places along the ring road.
Says Kamat: “I was taken aback when the police station in-charge of Margao police station told me that the robots are out of order and that the police station is handicapped to send mobile squads at the old station road. I will immediately take up the matter with the DIG and IGP to sort out the issue of police robot vehicles,” Kamat said, while saying that patrolling at sensitive areas will be affected for want of the patrol vehicles.
Local residents of Malbhat also pointed out that requests made to the Margao police station to send robot vehicles along the old station road for patrolling has either fallen on deaf ears or were greeted with a reply that the robots are out of order. A resident Pundalik Morajkar demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who is also the Home Minister, should immediately act and send the police control vans to the commercial capital for patrol duties.
Inquiries by The Goan with police officials have only revealed that the Margao police station was equipped with as many as five police control vans, before the bifurcation of the Margao police jurisdiction into Margao and Fatorda police stations, which saw Fatorda police station getting three robots, leaving Margao PS with just two stations.
Inquiries have further revealed that of the two PCR vans at the disposal of the Margao police station, one van was sent for repairs to Panaji around eight months ago and the other van recently.
The Margao PS was also in possession of two other vehicles, a Sumo and a vehicle at the disposal of the women police station. Both these vehicles have also been sent for repairs in Panaji for some time.
Police sources informed that the Margao police station is presently left with a Bolero jeep which is used by the police in the day-to-day functioning, with a police officer saying the jeep cannot be spared for patrolling duties.
