Almora. A district-level committee meeting was held at the Collectorate under the chairmanship of District Magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey to discuss measures for preventing illegal arms trafficking and misuse of licensed weapons.
During the meeting, the District Magistrate directed that all approved arms licenses in the district must undergo compulsory physical verification. He emphasized that strict checking drives should be conducted regularly at district borders to curb the trafficking of illegal arms and ammunition.
The DM instructed all Sub-Divisional Magistrates that recommendations for new licenses should only be made after thorough investigation. He clarified that only those applicants whose lives are under genuine threat and for whom a weapon is essential for self-defense should be considered.
It was also decided in the meeting that strict monitoring will be carried out on gun houses operating in the district. The installation of CCTV cameras at all gun houses will be made mandatory. Additionally, the Deputy Superintendent of Police was directed to ensure surprise inspections and verification of weapon and ammunition transactions from time to time.
Senior Superintendent of Police Devendra Pincha, Joint Magistrate Gauri Prabhat, SDMs Sunil Kumar, Rinku Bisht, and Seema Vishwakarma joined the meeting virtually. Deputy Superintendent of Police G.D. Joshi, along with other officials and staff from concerned departments, were also present.
