The Hindu : New Delhi News : Problem of tracking tenants

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 16, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Problem of tracking tenants

Perhaps the only option the local police have is to take recourse to the good old concept of effective beat policing, says Prashant Pandey

The revelation that those involved in the July 5 attack in Ayodhya had set up their bases in rented accommodations in Delhi for the past one year has once again brought to the fore the problem of tracking tenants here.

Announcing the arrests of militants allegedly involved in the attack, the Uttar Pradesh police said on Friday that while one group of terrorists stayed in an accommodation on Khanpur-Devli Road in South Delhi, the other had set up base at Kishangarh in South-West Delhi. They had come to the Capital about a year ago and had developed friendly relations with their landlords.

The Delhi police maintain that while tenant verification is a focus area for the local police, particularly in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations next month, not every new tenancy is reported to them.

In many areas, the police keep the property dealers on their radar as they often work as conduits for people seeking accommodation on rent. "They are constantly asked to give details of those seeking rented accommodations through them. But it is not always that they furnish complete details about the tenants," says a senior police officer.

Moreover, many tenants get their accommodation through direct negotiations with the landlord. This is particularly true of lower-middle class localities -- like the areas where the alleged terrorists stayed -- where owners do not come out with complete information despite repeatedly appeals by the police.

The police do take legal action against those who do not inform them about tenants but there is also a practical limitation to such actions. Migration takes place in the Capital on a large scale and people keep changing their accommodation frequently.

In fact, the entire tenant verification scheme is caught up between the police's need to keep track of new entrants in order to check any subversive activity and people's reluctance to contact the police under "normal" circumstances.

Even though the servant and tenant verification schemes have been an ongoing process for the past many years in the Capital, the concept of informing police about "minor things", like their servants and tenants, is something people are still not comfortable with.

If the police do get information about tenants -- and years of repeated exercise have led to the creation of a fairly sizable database -- the verification slips sent to their native towns often remain unanswered. This leads to a dead-end situation.

As of now, therefore, the police can apparently do little to plug the gap, of whatever magnitude, between their need for information and the lack of it. But they are also aware that they cannot take any chances. Not every tenant will turn out to be a terrorist but a few odd ones will have the potential to wreak havoc like the Parliament attack.

Perhaps the only option the local police have is to take recourse to the good old concept of effective beat policing. But whenever the police are accused of lagging behind on this count, they blame it on lack of manpower and work overload.

That may be true to quite an extent, but there is also evidence to suggest that a number of personnel busy themselves in other ``activities'' rather than spend time on the beat.

The recent blasts at cinema halls have proved that the Capital will continue to be targeted by terrorists. The police will have to remain constantly on their toes to foil any evil designs of terrorists. Intensifying intelligence gathering is one way to do it, ensuring that personnel deployed in their beats are doing their job honestly is another.

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