Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday said his government has a zero tolerance policy against unscrupulous immigration agents who dupe people by sending them abroad on fake documents. Apart from taking exemplary action, the state government will also start a major awareness drive on such agents, Mann said here.
Mann also said necessary amendments will also be made in Punjab’s immigration law to ensure the severest action against them.
Referring to the case of several Indian students in Canada who were duped by immigration agents, Mann said the students were sent on fake documents by the agents. The Chief Minister said the state government is in contact with the Canadian embassy to ensure that the culprits get strict punishment in Punjab.
Mann also flagged off a fleet of 16 hi-tech Mahindra Bolero vehicles and 56 motorcycles during the day to further strengthen the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Punjab police.
He termed the launch of the vehicles as yet another step towards modernising policing. The advanced mobile surveillance system installed in the Bolero vehicles is robust with industrial grade standards and can record video in a moving vehicle to collect evidence with real-time monitoring and alerts.
He further said it will also allow officers to monitor live activity and locate vehicles through the control room, besides making voice communication with the people in the vehicle. The vehicles have two outdoor cameras, which can view up to 30 meters, while two cameras have been installed inside the vehicle, Mann said. They also have a seven-inch display screen installed on its dashboard for monitoring footage of the cameras, which have a storage capacity of 30 days, he said.
Being a border state, a number of forces inimical to state have been chalking out nefarious designs to disturb hard-earned peace of state but the Punjab Police has always foiled such attempts, the CM said.
To overcome major new challenges, the police force needs to be updated as per advanced requirements in the field of investigation, science and technology, Mann said.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the state government has decided to constitute a dedicated ‘road safety force’ to streamline the movement of traffic on the roads and check road casualties in the state.
Mann said the force will be tasked with checking rash driving, streamlining vehicular movement on roads, which will reduce the burden on cops deployed in police stations.
