Fear is key on highway robbery

Diwakar Bhandari

PATHLAIYA: With Dashain round the corner, fear is the key for passengers travelling on the East-West highway in Rautahat these days.


Highway robbers rule the roost on the Pathlaiya-Chandranigahapur


stretch as callous security personnel turn a blind eye to the scared passengers’ concern.


“Looting is at an all-time high due to complete lack of security mechanism. Though, we’ve lodged several complaints with the authorities concerned, no action has been taken yet,” alleged passengers.


Brandishing arms, the robbers pull up a vehicle on the highway and loot


commuters at will.


“Clearly, the patrolling is inadequate as there is no respite from the daily


incidents of looting. Typically, there is a spurt in criminal activities during the festive season. In the light of this annual trend, security should have been beefed up at the earliest,” said Surendra Thakuri, a bus driver. He cited a recent incident to back his


assertions.


“Two trucks were looted only four days ago. One person was also injured in the incident when the robbers fired at him. Be that as it may, the police are


reduced to a casual bystander as innocent people suffer day in and day out,” he added.


The looters have got the better of the security lacunae. Usually, they hide in jungles along the highway and seem to target those


areas where security is lax.


Passengers maintained that there were certain stretches, where patrolling teams were conspicuous by their absence.


Devendra Subba, acting chief, Central Regional Armed Police Force Office, Pathlaiya, concurred that incidents were high in areas that did not have much of a patrolling teams’ presence.


He, however, held out hope for the victims.


“We’ve adopted stringent policies to curb criminal activities on the highway. But, it’ll take a while for the plan to translate into reality due to paucity of resources. We’ve set up posts after every 5km on the highway. For instance, the Pathlaiya-Chandranigahapur section has as many as six posts. While, patrolling is regularly carried out every 30


minutes,” he added.


But the lofty measures are doing little to allay the passengers’ fears.