GUJAR KHAN: Residents of Gujar Khan tehsil have expressed their concerns over administrative issues and the police’s failure to curb the skyrocketing crime rate in the area.

According to details, residents say that the local administration remains absent from the scene which adds to their miseries.

Talking to Dawn, Raja Arshad Mahmood said that fruit and vegetable vendors continue to sell items at their desired rates and many do not even bother to display rate lists issued by the market committee on a daily basis.

He said that those who do display the lists, do so without giving it any value, adding that official prices were also being violated by butchers, supermarket owners and milk sellers.

Mr Arshad added that shopkeepers did not fear checking by price control magistrates and the assistant commissioner as they had confined themselves to furnished rooms. He said that lack of the administration’s interest was costing the consumers dearly amid skyrocketing inflation.

Umar Azad Butt said that encroachments in bazaars by the shopkeepers had made it difficult for shoppers to move easily as paths have become congested. He highlighted that a massive crackdown was done against encroachments by the assistant commissioner posted in Gujar Khan a couple of months ago, but the situation had become as it used to be again.

On the other hand, residents have also expressed their dissatisfaction over the performance of Gujar Khan, Mandra, and Jatli police stations of Gujar Khan circle, saying that, no significant recovery could be made from burglars who remain to be at large.

According to details, citizens continue to be deprived of their valuables as robbers and burglars strike in broad daylight. A trader and resident, Abdul Wahab Sethi said that his house was a few furlongs away from the office of the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Gujar Khan but three armed robbers entered his house at noon and deprived his family of 10 tola gold jewellery worth Rs1.5 million and cahs Rs100,000.

He said that a traveller outside his house was also deprived of his motorcycle by the robbers while they were escaping from his house. Mr Sethi said that a month had passed since the robbery happened but the robbers had still not been traced by police.

Arqam Hassan, said that a month ago, his mobile phone worth Rs50,000 was snatched from him in the bazaar but he decided to not get a case registered as he was disappointed by the police’s performance. He said that eight months ago, his mobile phone worth Rs60,000 was stolen but it could not be recovered by the police. Mr Arqam said that he frequently visited the police station to get updates about any development but gave up his hopes at last.

Hundreds of similar victims of theft and robberies in the jurisdictions of three police stations of Gujar Khan pine for the recovery of their valuables but are hoping against hope.

Residents of Gujar Khan have urged the inspector general of Punjab police and speaker of the National Assembly (NA), who is an MNA from the area to take notice of this situation and to appoint efficient administrators and police officers to solve the miseries of locals.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2022