Scindia seeks PM's help to curb dacoity menace

New Delhi, Nov 9 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia that the Centre would be willing to extend all help to Madhya Pradesh Government to root out the dacoit menace in the Chambal region,if it sought an assistance for the same.

The assurance was given to Mr Scindia when he met the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil here today and submitted a memorandum seeking Central assistance in curbing the dacoit menace in Gwalior and Chambal divisions of Madhya Pradesh.

Talking UNI, Mr Scindia said the dacoity problem had been plaguing Madhya Pradesh since last so many years but the State Government could neither curb the problem nor did it seek the Union Government's assistance in this regard.

Mr Scindia, who met the Prime Minister and the Home Minister following the brutal murder of five people by the Gadaria gang of dacoits in Chambal region recently,,said a rally would be held in Gwalior on November 11 to voice the protest of the people.

The memorandum stated that cases of massacres,kidnappings and murders for ransom by dacoits have been increasing steadily since last five years in Gwalior and Chambal regions creating a terror in the minds of the people. As a result the Government employees feared to go to the place of their work and the terrified villagers were unable to do their farming.

The memorandum called for better equipping the police stations in the rural areas with adequate force and sophisticated weapons and satellite tansmitters. It also demanded provision of helilcopters for surveillance in the dacoit-affected arreas.

UNI YS MIR VC1700