Bhadrak: With the number of outsiders increasing at a quick rate in Bhadrak town, serious concerns about the safety and security of the local residents have come up.
Sources said that vendors coming from other states have laid siege to the footpath along the entire stretch from Charampa station to Gelpur Square. As their products are cheap their businesses are flourishing. Hence most of them have been able to afford rented accommodation in various parts of this town.
The law states that the owners who rent out their houses must provide information regarding the tenants to the police. However, they rarely do that. In the past there have been a number of cases where dreaded criminals have used the town as a safe haven.
One such incident is still fresh in the minds of the people here. Five noted SIMI activists were arrested here February 28, 2016 from a rented accommodation in which they had been staying under guise. They had introduced themselves as employees of a fertiliser company and stayed in the rented house for months trying to improve the network of their organisation in that locality.
The police camp was just 20 meters away from their rented house. Yet neither the police nor the local people could sense their motive.
Even in the recent past, many ‘pani puri’ vendors coming from other states were arrested for committing crimes like abducting and raping minors.
When asked, town police station inspector-in-charge Sarojini Singh said the police have the details of some vendors, but not all. The house owners should be cautious when they let out their places and inform the police about the details of the tenants immediately, the official said.
PNN