By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 4: Over 6000 policemen will keep a tight vigil in the Kathmandu Valley throughout the festive season to avoid any untoward incident.
The Valley will be under surveillance of 6,152 policemen, according to the Nepal Police Headquarters.
The Hindu community across the country is all set to observe their greatest festival of Bijaya Dashami, Tihar, and Chhat.
As per the special festive security plan prepared by the Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari, there will be around 93 plain-cloth policemen, who will indirectly visit and inspect the public and major spots in the Kathmandu Valley to check unruly activity taking place there.
According to the plan, 11,401 armed policemen and 13,516 policemen will be deployed during the festival season across the seven States, Deputy Inspector General and spokesperson of Nepal Police Headquarters Bishwo Raj Pokharel said.
For this, Police Headquarters in coordination with respective police offices had formed 826 separate policing groups across the country to check and control the unruly practices during the festival time, he said.
Police have especially identified 24 different kinds of crimes that happen during the festival including theft, burglary, gambling, looting, black marketing, cheating in public vehicles and ticket selling, among others.
Of the total vacancies in Nepal Police, over 60 per cent of the human resources are currently in the field duty, according to DIG Pokharel. Nepal Police has got a vacancy of 75,927 and out of which only 63,927 are in service.
According to the Police Headquarters, 42,619 policemen will be deployed in all seven States, including the Kathmandu Valley.
As per the plant, 43 SPs and 120 DSPs across the country will be heading the separate groups to make the festival all safe and secured from security perspective, he said.
Accordingly, State 1 will have 7,771 police personnel, 5,774 in State 2, 4,069 in State 3 (except Kathmandu Valley), 4,220 in Gandaki State and 7,143 in State 5, Likewise, 4,012 will be in Sudurpaschim State and 3,478 in Karnali State.
All these manpower deployed across the country were divided in 18 different group giving separate roles and responsibility to be performed during the festival season, DIG Pokharel said.
The separate group divisions were made to check theft and burglary, gambling, looting and snatching, black marketing, cheating in public bus fares, mobile pickets, regular police checking, surprise checking, regular patrolling, and quick response team (QRT), bicycle patrolling, plain cloth policemen, and checking in hotels and lodges.
Similarly, in the districts situated along the southern border, the Armed Police Force had already set up 91 help desks to arrange safe arrival of Nepali migrant workers from India. According to DIG Suraj Kumar Shrestha of APF, the help desks were established in coordination of Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) of India. Till date, no such complaint was reported about looting of Nepali migrant workers, he said.