Samruddhi Mahamarg to get separate police unit with 15 help centres and 420 personnel

The Maharashtra government has taken a major step to check rising crime on the Samruddhi Mahamarg. It has decided to set up a separate police system to curb incidents of theft, dacoity, diesel theft and attacks on travellers on the expressway.

The expressway, known as the Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, is 701 km long. A main control room will be set up for the entire route, and 15 police help centres will be opened under it.

The government has described the decision as highly important for the safety of travellers using the expressway. It says the separate arrangement is being created to stop the continuing attacks, diesel theft, theft of valuables kept in vehicles, and dacoity.

Crime on the expressway had increased over the past few days, and there had been strong demand for police deployment there. Against this background, the state government took a firm stand and decided to set up police help centres at 15 key locations. The locations named include Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati (Rural), Washim, Buldhana, Jalna, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Rural), Ahilyanagar, Nashik (Rural) and Thane (Rural).

A total of 420 police officers and personnel will be deployed for the arrangement. They will include 16 assistant police inspectors, 32 sub-inspectors and 48 assistant sub-inspectors. In addition, 276 police constables and 48 police drivers will be part of the system.

The expressway will thus have its own police structure operating under a main control room. The help centres will be placed at different points along the route so that police can be reached easily in case of an attack, theft or dacoity. The intention behind the decision is to give the thousands of travellers who use the route every day an environment in which they can travel with confidence.