Summary:
Chandigarh, Jan 17 (PTI) To ensure free, fair and transparent assembly elections next month in Punjab, the police have intensified search operations, especially in the border districts, to keep a vigil on illegal activities in vulnerable areas.
The operations are being assisted by the BSF, Punjab Armed Police, CID Units and Special Branch, besides the Excise and Taxation Department and Dog squad and anti-sabotage teams, Chief Director Ishwar Singh of the Vigilance Bureau-cum-State Police Nodal Officer (SPNO) said on Monday.
He said apart from carrying out conventional combat and search operations, the Punjab Police has also been using technology-driven policing by deploying drones to conduct aerial surveys to cover inaccessible areas of Mand along the Beas and Sutlej rivers.
He said during the search operations special attention is being paid to desolate locations, unpaved roads, tube-wells, freshly dugout areas and freshly cleared areas inside fields besides Deras outside villages.
Punjab DGP Punjab V K Bhawra along with Ishwar Singh had on Saturday held a high-level meeting with the state’s commissioners and senior superintendents of police, besides the police and intelligence officers of adjoining states to prevent the inflow of drugs in the state, which goes to polls on February 20.
During the meeting, the DGP gave clear instructions to all the CPs/SSPs in the states to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs and bootlegging ahead of the elections.