THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, April 18: Accommodation for the CAPF (central armed police force), which is to come ‘in good numbers’ in Palamu ahead of the May 13 voting here, is high on the agenda for the Palamu police.
Palamu police are exploring sites for accommodation from plus 2 high schools to colleges to halls.
Giriwar plus 2 school
CAPF stays at the Giriwar plus 2 school on the bank of the river Koyel. It is considered a good temporary shelter, where the school’s campus and the almost trickling river Koyel, which is barely a few meters away from the school, offer a pleasant stay secured and free of noise.
However, this location gets busier every evening when hundreds of men and women, boys and girls, come here and feel they are having fun like ‘Chaopati’.
Medininagar Municipal Corporation
The other location is the old town hall. It has a lot of parking space for vehicles. Medininagar Municipal Corporation is the best one to say if it is available for the shelter of the CAPF.
The choice of JS college near Beesfutta bridge has no issue of rooms and space as the Sadar police station is 200 yards away.
JS college
The JS college is seen as the driest campus, where the drinking water crisis is a chronic problem. This college, even during its academic business day, buys jars and cans of water for its teachers and students daily.
IG N K Singh
The Jharkhand Story correspondent spoke to the IG of police Palamu zone, Narendra Kumar Singh, who said, “A good number of CAPF will be arriving here well in advance for the voting due here on May 13.”
“We need to give them suitable housing. Their accommodation should be safe, secure, and pretty livable. You know the status of the colleges and their campuses. There must be one thing or the other wanting, and that needs to be addressed before CAPF is put in there,” added the IG.
He asked this correspondent if we have any suitable accommodation for housing women contingent on CAPF if it arrives here at all.
Namdhari Mahila College
Yodh Singh Namdhari Mahila College is seen as a good housing for the women brigade here.
CAPF is a very hard-to-please force that will listen to complaints about anything like a delay in transportation from the railway station to the destination.
Palamu police have had several bouts of complaining, such as their shelter point having too many mosquitoes, vehicles coming late to pick them up, or the local police not being too accommodating.
A delay in picking them up for moving them from one place to another has to be right on the dot, and the CAPF never delays in shooting off its complaints to the ECI if it is made to wait!
The ECI, too, shows extreme hurry in catching the errant officials by collar, showing them the exit door, like it did in one district of South India, where a senior police officer was exited from his chair as he had made a contingent of the CAPF waiting for transportation at the railway station for three hours!
An IPS officer who served here long back said, “In our times, they were called CPMF. Their whims and fancies were fanatical. You can’t expect world-class amenities in places like Daltonganj of yesteryears where you can’t find curd in every food provision shop. Today I have heard there is a dairy project here in Daltonganj.”
There are no good hotels in Daltonganj where CAPF heads can check-in. Some hotels have a reputation for poor service.
