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UP's 'crime-free' red-carpet welcome for investors
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SME Times News Bureau | 20 Feb, 2018
Even as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government worked
overtime to roll out the red carpet for industry captains and investors
at the two-day Investors' Meet beginning here Wednesday, the
administration is taking special pride in showcasing a state that is not
only India's most populous but free of organised crime.
The
perception about the police and criminal activities in the state has
changed, points out a visibly pleased Additional Director General (Law
and Order) Anand Kumar.
"We have clear-cut directives from the
government that rule of law has to prevail and that criminals cannot be
allowed to have a free run," Kumar told IANS while pointing out that the
tough stand of the state government and the "proactive actions" by the
police have instilled fear in criminals -- so much so that many have
either left the state or have surrendered.
"The message is clear
-- people of the state will be given safety and security at all costs
and the criminal element will not be spared," Kumar added.
He
talked about the "mad scamper among criminals" following several gun
fights -- which many have alleged were staged extrajudicial killings --
with police in which over 40 hardened criminals have been "sent to the
other world" and many more are languishing in the state's overcrowded
prisons.
Senior police officials point out instances where
criminals in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Bulandshahr and many other places
have driven to the police stations volunteering to surrender and "atone
for their crimes and sins".
"These are certainly good
morale-boosters for us, and indicates that the crackdown on criminals is
now showing results," says a top official in the Home Department who
recalled how a similar free hand was given to the force during the first
stint of Kalyan Singh (now Rajasthan governor) in the 1990s.
It
does appear that because of the sustained action against criminals the
"guns have suddenly fallen silent in the state capital" which, not so
long ago, was struck by a series of brazen crimes. Old timers in Uttar
Pradesh Police concede that this time round the government has
"recognised the importance of good law and order if the moolah was to
come to the state".
"All investment talk and tourism potential
like things appear to be a farce if there is soaring crime and overt and
covert criminal activity," said an intelligence official who pointed
out that it was for the first time that the Special Task Force (STF) is
being used to "assure industrialists that even an organised crime force
like extortionists were being watched".
Only last week, in a
first-of-its-kind initiative, senior officials led by ADG Anand Kumar
and IG (STF) Amitabh Yash met more than 400 industrialists in Noida to
"hear and be heard". An industrialist present at the meeting appeared
appreciative of the "your safety, our responsibility effort of the
cops". Officials behind the Investors' Meet admit that the "return of
the rule of law to a large extent" has cheered the industry and that
many prospective investors have communicated this to the state's
political leadership.
No wonder 900 MoUs have been already inked
between the government of Uttar Pradesh and the investors and they will
change hands on Wednesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and a galaxy of state and Union ministers. The Chief Minister's
dinner invite for top business honchos has already been accepted by over
200 CEOs of national and international business houses.
But,
this time, some credit is going to the police as well, beyond what they
have been getting in the past - for maintaining security and managing
traffic during such events.
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