Nagpur cops involve students to combat terror

Nagpur, Sep 6 (UNI) In what is probably the first initiative of its kind in the country, the Nagpur City Police today launched programme to involve school and junior college students in the fight against terror by sensitising them to suspicious objects and people.

The programme, named ''Mission Mritunjay'', was formally launched by Police Commissioner S P Singh and Nagpur University Pro-Vice Chancellor G S Parashar here this morning.

Speaking after launching the programme, Mr Singh said police officers and teachers would make the students aware of the threats to security. The pupils would be taught to be wary of strangers and unclaimed objects, and inform the police immediately, he said.

The police have dedicated two telephone lines for the purpose, and letterboxes would soon be installed in all the educational institutions in the city so that the students could alert the authorities,Mr Singh said.

Police officials would visit nearly 600 schools and junior colleges participating in the programme once every months to guide the students, he said.

Mr Parashar said Nagpur University would make the training modules under the programme a part of the syllabus of the disaster management being taught in affiliated institutions.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) B K Upadhyay said the programme has been launched in association with Agape, a private security consultancy firm. ''Mritunjay'' means someone who as triumphed over death, and the name has been chosen because the effort is to prevent unnecessary loss of innocent lives through subversive activities, he said.

There had been no terrorist attack in the United States after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001 because of a massive initiative to involve the general public in the fight against this menace, Mr Upadhyay pointed out. A similar effort was necessary in India as the country ranked second in the world on next only to Iraq in the number of deaths in subversive acts, he said.

UNI