Date:11/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/11/stories/2008101159340300.htm

Tamil Nadu

Power cut comes in ‘handy’ Law & order

In the wake of load shedding, there is a spurt in crimes, writes L. Srikrishna

Load shedding in different parts of the city and suburban areas has started to reflect on various crimes, ranging from petty to grave offences, police say.

Offences such as pocket picking, two-wheeler thefts and chain snatching have been reported in S. S. Colony, Thideer Nagar, Tallakulam and Sellur police stations in the recent weeks. Three days ago, police said, a resident of Chekkanoorani had parked h is two-wheeler near a popular shopping complex on Town Hall Road. After about an hour, when he returned, the vehicle was missing. Police enquiry into a property missing case revealed that load shedding in the area for about an hour came in handy for the offender. Many bicycles parked in open places too went missing.

On Ayudha puja day, when a 35-year-old woman was returning home from a nearby temple at Nehru Nagar under S. S. Colony police station limits when two persons snatched away her seven-sovereign gold chain and sped away in a two-wheeler. As there was no electricity in the locality, the passers-by could not even identify the thieves or take note of the vehicle number, a resident said.

Though such offences had been reported earlier, the number of incidents had risen owing to frequent power stoppages, residents of outlying areas such as Surya Nagar near Surveyor Colony say. “During day time when the electricity goes off, we keep windows and doors open…but it is not possible at night,” they said.

Motor theft

The police in rural district said that they had not received any complaints regarding thefts during power failure.

However, they admitted that there were cases of motors missing in independent houses in P and T Nagar, Karuppayoorani, Oomachikulam, Tirunagar and Sholavandan areas. Motorists too suffer owing to power failure. Since automatic signals do not work during power shutdown, policemen have to manually regulate the traffic, leading to chaos at important road junctions.