GOA POLICE NOT SERIOUS OF POSSIBLE TERROR ATTACKS

PANJIM: Goa police do not seem to be serious of fears of possible terrorist attack in the State even as tourist season is at its highest and the entire west coast on alert following intelligence report on suspected terrorist activity in the western part of the country.

While manhunt has begun in neighbouring Maharashtra, Goa’s borders remain porous with lax security checks in place. Almost, all the vehicles go unchecked at these crucial points. It has been learnt that at the Patradevi and Dodamarg check posts that security is not upto the mark, from where the militants can easily sneak in after heavy patrolling in the coastal belt.

The dire situation is similar to the one in December 2008 which exposed major security lapse while the country was on high alert after Mumbai terror attack.

On December 25, 2010 after 4 pm, when this reporter reached Dodamarg, the shocking scene was to see Goa police outpost remained unmanned. The vehicles including trucks and busses plied between the two states of Goa and Maharashtra without being checked.

Even the police barricades did not have a single police guard. A constable was leisurely reading a newspaper in the check-post office. The Christmas evening went off peacefully with Goans celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and Goa police too enjoying their day-break.

All interstate buses, trucks, outstation vehicles with registration numbers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and others crossed the check-post sans any searches.

It was seen that only one personnel at the check-post and that stoppage board (pole on the road to stop the entry of vehicles for checking) remains open paving way to criminals to speedily drive their vehicle into the State.

Chief Secretary Sanjay Shrivastava and police spokesperson Atmaram Deshpande had recently confirmed intense security vigilance in the State, which ironically was not seen at these check-posts.

Nearly 50 local and outstation vehicles crossed these check posts during this reporter’s stay period but all of these vehicles were let off without being checked. This shows the “heightened security” by the State police.

As the year comes to an end, the security in Goa is stepped up and Central Para-military forces are also called in to assist Goa police.

But security cannot be at the highest, if the police department and officers sitting in their AC-cabins take the past incidents seriously, whether it was Margao blast or Mumbai terror attack. Goa is hardly 550-kms from Mumbai and entry through marine is also possible.