03 June,2010 09:28 AM IST | | Debarati Palit
Wakad vicinity sees two muggings a day, police say IT professionals who work late hours form soft targets
The vicinity of Wakad, one of the busiest IT districts in the city, reports two cases of mugging on an average every day.
The 1.5 lakh IT professionals working in Hinjewadi IT park and 10,000 students attending various colleges in the area have become soft targets for thieves and robbers. They often carry valuables like laptops and work till late on office projects or college assignments.
Officials at the Wakad police chowky said, "We get complaints every day and in spite of surveillance, the problem still persists. Professionals and students who frequent the area also need to be cautious."
There are four patrol cars moving between the Mumbai-Pune Highway and Chandni Chowk all through the night.
Jadhav, an official at the Wakad police chowky said, "We move around the area throughout the night, but there are so many IT professionals who travel late at night to Chinchwad, Pimpri, Nigdi or Hinjewadi that it is difficult to curb the growing menace of muggings."u00a0
Bhosale Patil of the Hinjewadi police station blame IT companies for the rising crime graph in the area.
"Companies should follow and adhere to the security protocol. In the past few years, IT companies have grown from eight to 100, and educational institutions from one to five," said Bhosale Patil. "Since it is an upcoming area, there are ongoing constructions and projects. The construction companies do not verify the identity and background of the labourers, and this leads to increase in crime in the area."
In a bid to combat the menace of muggings, the Hinjewadi police station has issued letters to various IT companies outlining the security protocol to be followed.
The HR Head, KPIT Cummins, said that a list of dos and don'ts have been issued to professionals working in the company.
A few incidents
My friend and I arrived from Mumbai and got down in Wakad. It was around 3 am and we wanted to take an auto to Dange chowk, but had to wait as there were not many of them around. Suddenly two men came on a bike and snatched my phone as I was making a call and fled. It was an expensive phone.
Vaibhav Gupta
Student, Indira Institute
Recently the purse of a friend of mine was snatched. After dinner at a nearby restaurant, she was crossing the road to take an auto when a man snatched her purse and ran away. Her friend ran after him but could not catch the culprit.
A 26-year-old woman IT professional (name withheld on request)
Working in Hinjewadi
We are aware of mugging incidents and we plan to take up the matter with the police and find a solution to it. We already have established a joint task force with the cooperation of the police and regular patrolling is happening in the area. This force was established to increase security for the IT sector in Hinjewadi.
Mritunjay Singh
President, Hinjewadi Industries Association
