Former corporator in Borivali has a novel idea to deter thieves

Mumbai: Over rising cases of robbery and chain snatching in IC Colony at Borivali in recent times, the local Shiv Sena Politician and former corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar has decided to set up an alarm to alert residents and the police.

Ghosalkar with his wife Tejaswini, the current corporator, held a meeting with the local Police station officers and society members on this issue. Wherein some suggestions were exchanged that also included installing alarms to alert citizens and nearby police, so to get the prompt action against the criminals.

Ghosalkar told the Free Press Journal that currently two junctions have been identified in IC Colony where these alarms will be installed in the next 15 days. "If any house in this colony comes across any such robbery attempt, the alarm can be raised immediately. It will be same as a fire alarm. Moreover, the alarm will be installed such that it will be in the visibility area of the building watchman and once it is pressed the sound will alert all building residents in the vicinity along with the police. I believe this will be the first such initiative that is being experimented in Mumbai to keep a check on the crime that is happening."

I.C Colony is one of the biggest residential area of Borivali having about 200 buildings. So far about four to five cases of housebreaking and chain snatching reported in just a week's time.

Apart from installing alarms, the other suggestions included --deploying one security guard for 5-10 societies (sharing his salary) for night vigil, so that the police patrolling team can also coordinate with him, installing CCTV cameras in housing societies so that the culprits get identified and arrested immediately and participating in local patrolling of individual housing societies and helping the police in maintaining law and order.

Interestingly, a year back Ghosalkar had formed the vigilant IC Tiger Squad, who used to conduct night rounds to deter thieves who have been targeting the area. However, due to Covid, the squad stopped their work. Ghosalkar informed, "Now once again we will make the squad active. This squad had been really very helpful in the past."

Meanwhile, a resident of IC Colony in whose house the robbery took place on September 8 said, "Usually our area is crowded but due to lockdown and Covid the roads have turned quiet. In the evening time, the movement of people has been reduced and, therefore, there has been a rise in such mischievous and life-threatening activities. Moreover, the police patrolling earlier used to be frequent but now as we all know many policemen have been infected, they are short staffed. So taking care by implementing such measures by societies themselves is the need of the hour."

(To download our E-paper please click here. The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)