Thaindian News

Ghaziabad, Jan 6 (IANS) As middle class communities in cities increasingly turn gated and security conscious, the residents of an upscale Ghaziabad neighbourhood, that has witnessed 12 burglaries in four months, have decided to install CCTV cameras in the area as they say Uttar Pradesh Police have been able to do little about growing crime.

“The Kaushambi Area Residents Welfare Association (KARWA) is going to install CCTV cameras in all the 20 towers in Kaushambi. All escape routes are being monitored. The CCTV footage would cover the parking areas and terrace routes,” KARWA president Narayan Rajamani told IANS.

“These steps are being taken in view of the increasing burglary incidents and police failure to detect them. The cameras have been installed in four towers so far - Shivalik, Nanda, Kailash and Trishul.”

The spate of burglaries that began in the high rise towers of Ghaziabad’s trans-Hindon area four months ago has continued - 12 such incidents have been reported in Kaushambi alone. In one of the most recent incidents, burglars broke open the latches of two flats situated in Kaushambi’s Dhaulagiri tower and stole cash, jewellery and other articles.

Burglars broke open the latch of flat No.1306 of Dhaulagiri tower when the owner, Sanjay Kumar, was away in Pune with his family. When Sanjay returned from Pune, he found the gates open. He was shocked to find cash worth Rs.5 lakh and jewellery worth Rs.3 lakh missing.

In another incident burglars broke open the latch of flat No.1002 where one Sachin used to run his office. Although no financial loss has been reported, the burglars ransacked the entire office and destroyed important documents.

“After receiving complaints from these victims, we have detained two security guards deployed in the tower for questioning. We are also coordinating with the local Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) that had deployed security guards,” Ghanshyam Singh, inspector of the Indirapuram police station, told IANS.

But residents are not convinced. “The superintendent of police of Ghaziabad (City), J.K. Shahi, assured residents that police would provide them with the requisite security. But with these two incidents, police efforts have proved to be futile,” said Rajiv Bhalla, secretary of the Satpura tower Residents Welfare Association.

(S.P. Singh can be contacted at spsinghg@gmail.com)