Jalpaiguri Police has introduced online access to public so that they can express their grievances through its website www.jalpaiguripolice.in’ to draw the attention of the top cop of the district. A column under the head Grievance has been incorporated in the website of the district police which is first of its kind among websites of other district police, claimed Superintendent of Police Amitabha Maity. It is an effort to reach out the public with a better and faster means of communication so that people can express their grievances and can even lodge a complaint against any personnel but their identity will be kept secret, he explained.
There is a Grievance Tab in the website. A person wanting to keep his/her identity undisclosed can click on this Tab and post a grievance after registering himself/herself by getting an OTP.
Jalpaiguri is topographically very important because of its proximity with the international borders of two neighbouring countries- Bangladesh and Bhutan – and famous forest. It has 94-km bordering areas with Bangladesh and another 45-km with Bhutan. Problems of infiltration, smuggling of cattle, drugs and other commodities cause concern for the police authorities, who have tightened their grip on those crucial matters through intensified patrolling and other pro-active steps to ensure better law and order situation and availability of other facilities for the backward areas of the 
district. The district has introduced Tourist Police Volunteer in the places of tourist interests like Lataguri, Gorumara and Chalsa who have been armed with mobiles and cycles so that they can easily communicate with concerned individuals or officials for solving problems of the tourist to make their visit comfortable.
The district has 41 Border Outposts (BPOs) to man the two international borders for checking infiltration and smuggling, among other things. The district police have also introduced a verification process for the inhabitants in the bordering moujasi in consultation with the local panchayat bodies under a definite prescribed format for verification of Character Antecedents of the inhabitants of the bordering villages which would soon be done online.
The district is generally peaceful. However police undertake awareness campaign in almost all tea garden areas to combat trafficking cases. Police also carry on awareness drive for the prevention of child marriage, ATM frauds and drug abuses, among other social ills. Night patrolling, Naka checking and Motorcycle patrolling are carried out regularly to curb criminal activities. District police has taken action against cattle, timber, coal smuggling and prevented illegal lifting of riverbed materials. Cases have been registered against illegal transportation of coal and have seized trucks which were being used for such activities. The district police had also seized huge quantity of valuable timbers and large number of cattle following strict vigilance.
District police has undertaken joint exercise with the Counter Insurgency Force (CIF) in close cooperation of the Forest department to make CIF officials familiar with the terrains of jungle patches of Gorumara, Chapramari and Khuttimari besides other adjoining areas to prevent poaching and to keep track if there is any existence of the extremists’ elements in the region. Watch towers have been set up at Elenbarie bordering with Darjeeling district and Chamurchi bordering with Bhutan for effective policing and to control cross border crime.
The district police have adopted a series of measures to reduce road accidents through coordinated activities. Besides organising awareness programmes on “Safe Drive Save Life” audio CDs are played at vantage points, barriers are placed with cautionary signage in the identified accident prone areas and other steps in consultation with the National Highways Authorities. Civic Volunteers are also deployed in different areas to make people aware of the road safety. Special camps are being set up in different anchals with the support of the Village Police and Civic volunteers who take note of the people’s problems and sent back to the Block Development Officials for taking appropriate steps to solve their problems.
By Our Special Correspondent
