Lulling passengers into false security?
Aren’t the common masses lulled into a false sense of security at the ‘Rupnath Brahma Inter-State Bus Terminus’ (ISBT)
ISBT IN GUWAHATI
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Aren't the common masses lulled into a false sense of security at the 'Rupnath Brahma Inter-State Bus Terminus' (ISBT) at Betkuchi in Guwahati? A reality check shows that in the run-up to the Republic Day, the ISBT has only one armed Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), amidst 15 baton-wielding constables including a woman and home guards.
Various reports of crimes, including that of drugs, are very frequent near the ISBT. Of late, a video has gone viral in the social media wherein a girl from Arunachal Pradesh is rebuking a youth for his alleged misbehaviour in a bus at the ISBT.
The area witnesses a busy life. Besides honking cars, people from almost all the north-eastern States are seen either waiting for outgoing inter-State or inter-district buses or getting alighted from such incoming passenger carriers.
The ISBT witnesses a large number of buses moving to and from other States – at least five passenger buses from Manipur, four from Meghalaya, seven from Siliguri in West Bengal, three from Arunachal Pradesh, five from Dimapur in Nagaland, three or four from Mizoram and three from Tripura – daily. This is not all. It also witnesses daily to-and-fro movement of inter-district buses – 50 from upper Assam and 20-25 from lower Assam. Checking of incoming and outgoing people is almost nil in the ISBT complex.
The situation always demands a security blanket in the area, let alone in the run-up to the Republic Day celebration. The ground reality, however, remains that the outpost located there under Gorchuk Police Station has only one armed personnel. He is an ASI, the in-charge of the outpost. All the other personnel manning the outpost are unarmed baton-wielding ones: Eight constables including a lady and seven home guards. Is this the right security blanket in the run-up to the Republic Day? Isn't it a perfect recipe of a soft target?
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