Call of duty: Noida cops crossing river on foot to reach village

Policemen in Noida are risking their lives in the line of duty, case in point being Dalelpur village, where they reach by crossing the Yamuna river either by a boat ride or on foot.

Dalelpur is a sparsely populated village and the only in the region which falls on the other side of Yamuna in Haryana but is still a part of Uttar Pradesh. The only way to reach it is to get on the only privately-arranged boat that plies on the river to fetch people between the Yakutpur and Dalelpur sides of the Yamuna or a road trip via Delhi and Faridabad, that is a journey of 70 km on one side.

The village, bereft of roads and power supply, among other basic amenities, falls under the limits of Knowledge Park police station, whose personnel have been crossing over the polluted, stench-emanating river for years now.

"Connectivity is a major problem. It's difficult to reach Dalelpur and takes lot of time, but our work is to reach out to any call or complaint there," Sub-inspector Pramod Kumar told PTI during a visit to the village where he had come to record some statements in a case recently.

"There is only one boat and I was waiting on the other side (Yakutpur) but there was no one who could bring it. I could not wait there for long so I had to cross the river on foot and reach Dalelpur, he said, as he showed some selfies he took which showed him waist-deep in the blackened river water with a paper file, his boots and trousers in one hand.

Kumar, who has been doing this for one-and-a-half years now since being posted at Knowledge Park, was lucky to have got a boat ride back that day.

Reaching the shore does not mean the task is over, Kumar said, adding it was another 3-4 km of walk on dirt-track before one can reach Dalelpur.

"It's only during raids that an official vehicle goes to the village, covering a distance of 70 km via Delhi and Faridabad," he said.

On fortunate days, he gets a ride in the SUV of Dalelpur's Satbir Tyagi, if he is around and willing to come to the river bank.

Home to some 250-odd people, Dalelpur locals, however, heaped praises on the local police for their dedication to the village, which they said otherwise has remained "neglected" till now by "other official agencies" due its location.

"The police are the only agency which cares for us. They reach out to us as soon as they can. Every night some official from Knowledge Park police stations calls someone in the village to ask if everything is fine, said Tyagi, 42, resident of Dalelpur.

When asked about the situation, Senior Superintend of Police (SSP) Gautam Buddh Nagar Vaibhav Krishna said he was seized of the matter.

I am aware of the difficulties that the police personnel have to go through in case of Dalelpur, he said, precisely aware of region's geography.

We coordinate with the Haryana Police also and our personnel also try to ensure that they reach out to the village, either by road or through the river. A bridge or some sort of direct connectivity would be better, he told PTI.

Station House Officer, Knowledge Park, Arvind Kumar Pathak said despite the difficulties the officials have been performing their duty for years now.

SI Kumar said during his 18 months here he has not heard of anything like a bridge or road coming up that could bring into mainstream the village, where he has to go at least twice a month.