Traders in Jharkhand will help police improve law and order in the state.

The Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) will revive its 2008 initiative of Police And Chamber Together (PACT).

“We had introduced this PACT concept in 2008 and got good results. However, it became dysfunctional in due course of time. With growing incidents of crimes, we have decided to revive this concept as we feel that the police without public participation would be handicapped in maintaining law and order,” said FJCCI president Kishore Mantri.

Mantri said regional vice-presidents would be directed to make PACT units functional in all the zones.

“We would be asking our regional vice-presidents to make PACT units functional at all the regional zones such as Kolhan, Santhal Pargana, North Chhotanagpur, South Chhotanagpur and Palamau. We are confident of making the Ranchi unit functional within a month. We would be approaching all the police stations in Ranchi soon after Chhath,” he said.

“It is often seen that traders feel hesitant to come to the police station. By constituting a committee at the police station level and holding regular meetings of the police professional we also hope to bridge the gap between law enforcers and traders,” Mantri added.

Ranchi senior superintendent of police Kishore Kaushal welcomed the initiative.

“It is a positive initiative of the chamber and we eagerly look forward to the operation of the PACT at the thana level. The local thanas will render all possible help to the teams as information collection is crucial in improving law and order in any region,” said Kaushal.

Significantly, the decision to reintroduce PACT concept was taken by the law and order sub-committee of FJCCI on Saturday.

“The law and order sub-committee will appoint conveners at the police station level in Ranchi. The traders residing in the particular thana area would be connected by the conveners through WhatsApp group formed at the police station level. The members would promptly inform about any suspicious activities in their area in the WhatsApp group and the convener would in turn inform the local police station officer. We hope to control illegal and criminal activities through this concept,” said Praveen Lohia, chairman of the law and order sub-committee.

Traders also admitted that it is next to impossible with the current strength of the police force to stop criminal activities.

“With the current strength of the police force it would be humanly impossible to depute them as a static force in every nook and corner. It is also impossible to install CCTV at every location to detect the culprits. In such a situation, the public need to come forward and join hands with the police to curb crime,” said a trader in Jamshedpur.