Nearly a decade after it began modernising its poorly equipped police force, Himachal Pradesh has acquired its first vehicle jammer at a cost of $1.88 million. The police also purchased two in-vehicle drinking jammers worth Rs 5 lakh each.
Diljit Singh Thakur, Deputy Inspector-General (DIG, CID Intelligence Division), said: "Over the years, we have had to rely on the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab to provide vehicles equipped with jammers during VVIP visits. Now we have our own car.
An intelligence official said the signal jammers are based on advanced digital signal processing technology and feature a global mobile frequency jamming system, code division multiaxis and cellular 4G frequency bands.
In addition to this, the police have also offered to purchase two drones for aerial surveillance and tracking of illegal cannabis and poppy cultivation. The Home Ministry has approved the proposal by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Three years ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology prepared a similar proposal, but at that time, due to financial constraints, it could only purchase one drone.
There are more than 400 villages growing marijuana and opium poppies across the state, and the department plans to use the drones to keep an eye on the drug Mafia. Himachal Pradesh is notorious for being the largest opium poppy producer in the country. About 64 per cent of the state's opium poppy and 55 per cent of its cannabis is produced in remote villages such as Kullu, Manali, Chamba, Shimla and Sirmaur.
The opium poppy grown here is used to extract opium, which is also found in parts of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.
In addition, the CID also plans to use drones to conduct aerial surveillance over forested areas in Chamba district bordering Jammu and Kashmir. The border was occupied by the Himachal Police battalion. The border between Chamba and Jammu and Kashmir became sensitive in 1998 when Pakistani-trained terrorists gunned down 36 workers in Kalaban and Satrundi villages.
