The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The RBP is coming up with a new initiative, Gewog Based Policing, where 3 to 5 police personnel will to deployed to gewog centres to address chorten and lhakhang vandalism, the most common crime in rural areas. The initiative is also aimed at increasing security and safety in the villages.
As a pilot project the initiative will be tested for a year in the far flung locations of Talung and Sangbaykha in Haa and in Tsento and Beultikha in Paro. By the end of the year the project will also be extended to Laya and Lingzhi where there is no reach of police at all.
Chief of Police (CoP) Colonel Chimmi Dorji said that Haa and Paro was chosen as it is the main routes for smuggling with China. “The smuggling of sandal wood is mostly transited through Haa Talung and Paro Tsento and this is why we have chosen these two place at first,” the Police Chief said. “Those two routes are also known for gold smuggling in early days.” He also said that people within these two communities are not ready to share information with the police. “If one person from the community speaks the truth there is fear the whole community might be implicated,” he added. “We urge local leaders to work with the RBP to keep away illegal businesses.”
In response to a query by the Gup Dechen Wangdi of Toedtsho, Trashiyangtse, on the increasing number of people crossing the border between Trashiyangtse and Tawang in India because of the decrease in police personnel, the Police Chief said police personnel are deployed for specific reasons.
“We did not deploy them to stop people from doing smuggling around the border but we did with different reasons and with regard to the registration of people by-passing the area. It is not our responsibility and should be looked after by immigration.”
On the recent illegal entry of 33 foreign workers in Kholongchhu Project the Police Chief said that “we should work together, keep informing each other to keep the country safe and secure”.
