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| CM's incognito drive was more a "joy" drive! | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 18: Known for making off-the-cuff tongue-in-cheek remarks, Farooq Abdullah, as chief minister, walked through the congested markets of the winter capital city and relished dry fruit at Raghunath Bazar. Son, Omar Abdullah, now chief minister, last night chose to drive in disguise as he didn't want to be recognised at police checking
points which, as per his version, were under his "scanner". Apart from checking alertness of cops at nakas, he also wanted to have first hand information about traffic cops to find out if they worked properly to regulate vehicular traffic, according to official sources.
If that be the reason, the question is why he chose the Circular Road-Gujjar Nagar bridge-Chhani Himmat road for the purpose? This section of the road does not experience much traffic congestion as it is not used by the main city traffic pollutants -- the minibus operators. Especially during night hours when the traffic is thin, driving is a pleasure on this outer city road. From Chhani Himmat, he came to Auqaf Market in Gandhi Nagar where he relished 'kababs' and 'tikkas'. From there, he came back to CM's official residence at Wazarat Road, taking Bikram Chowk-Bakshi Nagar route. From the route he took, it looked more of a futile exercise.
If he really intended to have first hand account of the "gagged" city roads, or effectiveness of nakas, it would have been more logical if he had taken inner city roads -- Panjtirthi to Kachchi Chawni to Parade, Ranbireshwar Temple to Shalamar, New Plots to Rehari Chungi, Janipura Housing Colony to Old Janipura. Five minutes journey through these gagged city roads is often turned to half an hour or so. To taste
traffic chaos here, a drive through them is must. Also, the number of police checking points is more on the inner city roads. Chhani Himmat and Gandhi Nagar do not have a traffic problem. Roads are wide there. So, the "wisdom", that guided him to drive through these wide roads to scan police performance at nakas and on roads, puts a question mark on the person's ability to perceive things in the right perspective.
If he really wanted to check how alert are the cops on nakas, he should have been guided by "vision, strategy and tactics". Doesn't it sound well that he should have taken some rifles and ammunition to find out if the "alert" cops on nakas could "catch" him or not? Yes, it certainly sounds well. With his true identity hidden by a scarf or a monkey cap, he ought to have kept some rifles on the back seat and then cross the city nakas to check the alertness of the checking points.
And, for the purpose, he should have used the common's man Maruti-800 car or any other small car. Five years or so back, a senior police officer had carried out a similiar exercise. To his surprise, he, in his car, which had rifles and ammunition hidden in the dickey, had crossed all checking points without being caught. Few years back, a
female doctor was abducted from a minibus by two youth at Gandhi Nagar on gun-point. Making a mockery of the security appratus, they had fled the state in a car with the gun and the kidnapped doctor. The nakas had proved futile that time too. Under such circumstances, how can a simple visit to the naka points can be fruitful? It is beyond the
understanding of a common man.
The chief minister visited Chhani Himmat and then Gandhi Nagar, before taking the road for home, from about 8 pm to 9.30 pm. This is the time when otherwise also there is minimal vehicular traffic on the road stretch he visited. So, we can sum up with the conclusion that the night "checking" drive by him didn't serve the intended purpose. It probably turned out to be a joy ride for him!
Let us hope that in future Omar Abdullah would drive at night with the off-chance of laying hands on culprits, if any. |
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