On your guard

There are just 110 days left for New Delhi to host the Commonwealth Games. The capital is being spruced up, but are we really in any position to appreciate this beautification? Our streets are filled with snatchers, kidnappers, murderers and eve teasers, and hundreds of these incidents take place almost every day. Our protector, Delhi Police, also finds itself embroiled in some such cases almost every alternate month. Is there anyone who can guarantee the security of millions of visitors, foreign tourists and players during the games. The central and state governments don’t seem like they are worried about finding themselves in such a situation. The role of politicians is just limited to ridiculous statements such as ‘girls should not go alone anywhere at night.’ The police always say they’ll take action against culprits, but we fail to see concrete results.
In Beijing, during the 2008 Olympics, the organisers wanted their policemen to look active. So pins were placed on their collars so that it would become a habit with them to keep their head straight. Although we expect these measures to be taken only in a communist country such as China, our overweight police force isn’t going to make a good impression in front of foreign visitors. What’s important for the city is to have foolproof security arrangements, which is not something that could be arranged or assembled on the streets overnight. The government is constructing roads, flyovers and setting up goals and changing plans, but that cannot be the way to deal with security of people. They should immediately start working on these things. The foreign players and visitors are coming to Delhi in October and the security of these people can only be guaranteed when the citizens themselves feel safe on deserted streets in the darkest of nights. Lives of citizen are much more important than the Commonweath Games.
Neeraj Kumar Jha