Niranjan targets Naveen over rising crime in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on sitting silently while crimes are on the rise in the state.

“Murder, rape, loot, dacoities, robbery, Kidnapping etc are on the upsurge, but the CM, in charge of Home department is sitting silently on this issue. In broad daylight, many heinous crimes are committed, but police have completely failed in controlling them,” alleged Patnaik.

He said, though numbers of crimes are rising every day, all are either not reported or registered by the police.

In 2013, the registered crimes in the states were 71,718, whereas this has gone up to 79,998 by September 2018. A year before, the number was 77,596. This shows the shattered law and order situation of the state, Patnaik said.

The PCC chief said in All India Crime Bureau Records, in 2013 Odisha remained in 13th place in overall crime record.

“It was in 14 in murder, 9 in rape, 6 in the robbery, 13 in theft, 14 in kidnapping and 13 in the riot. During 2013, the state was in 15th position in overall crime scenario whereas 6 in rape, 6 in the robbery, 4 in dacoity, 11 both in kidnapping and riot. In 2001 in Odisha, 790 cases of rape and 987 cases of murder were registered, whereas in 2006, this rose to 985 and 1159 respectively,” said Niranjan.

In the year 2011, 1112 cases of rape and 1477 cases of murder were registered. Likewise, the number of theft cases during 2011 increased by 14.6% and touched 8724.

During 2015, the number of rape cases rose to 2251, which was a matter of concern. This was 273 more than the previous year. This clearly proves the inability and inefficiency of the state government and also police to tackle the situation and control crimes, said the PCC chief.

Also, acid attack and dowry torture cases have been reported. Recently the CM, in charge of Home department has replied in the state assembly that, by 2018 September, the number of registered crimes in the state has surged to 79,998. To add to the worries, the police department of the state is being run through contractual employees.

7883 contractual employees are working in the police department in various posts. This show, how the state govt is sincere to control the law and order situation of the state, said the PCC chief.

“The alarming rise of crimes and failure of the govt to tackle this, is the sole responsibility of the CM, as he is in charge of the Home dept, but he has also failed to do so,” alleged Niranjan.