Chandigarh, July 17 -- Even as there have been some failures on the nakas put up by police for preventing crime in the city, police say that the nakas are essential for maintaining law and order in the city. The Sector 11 shooting of Janki Das at the chemist shop on June 13, which happened just a few metres away from a police naka, has again raised questions about its effectiveness. There are 39 border nakas which are put up along all border points of the city and around 10 dynamic nakas put up within the city at different points. They are all put up by the local police stations, and each police station is tasked with managing two to three nakas. They are manned in three shifts by the cops. The lapses were highlighted during the Sector 11 shooting incident. The attack was carried out in front of a naka and the perpetrators had fled to Sector 3, and from there to Kajheri village in Sector 52 before fleeing from the city hours later. There was a naka set up by the police just a few metres away from the spot but it didn't do much. After the incident happened, the information was also not relayed in a timely manner to stop the accused from fleeing the city. Sharing his perspective, former Punjab director general of police (DGP), Suresh Arora, who had earlier also remained senior superintendent of police (SSP) Chandigarh said that nakas are necessary to create a sense of security among the residents. He added that nakas have been instrumental for stopping crime, especially cases like snatching even if it may not always come on record and added that it is necessary for police to use nakas as preventive action. Speaking about the importance of having nakas, UT inspector general of police (IGP), Pushpendra Kumar, said that nakas are not just about physically impeding roads but the mental effect that they have on people. Seeing the presence of police on the roads encourages people to not break rules and also keeps criminals from committing crimes. He added that there have been multiple crime incidents solved recently because of these nakas including some Arms Act cases where weapons were recovered from vehicles. Kumar added that the present naka policy is the best use of the police resources and if there are other ways then the police is open to listen to them. He explained that there are two types of nakas, incoming and outgoing nakas, especially on the borders. The incoming nakas are the ones which check those entering the city and mostly see more police deployment. He said that after a crime incident happens, as seen in the Sector 11 shooting, the deployment is then done on outgoing nakas. Here, all vehicles leaving the city are then checked on priority. While it has been observed that sometimes cops are not paying attention at nakas, IGP Kumar said that this is something that the police are working on and random checks are also carried out. Regarding traffic issues, he added that the police will consider setting up the nakas differently especially during peak hours to make traffic movement easier. The nakas cause traffic bottlenecks throughout the city especially during the peak hours. Explaining this, road safety activist Harpreet Singh said that perhaps the placement of nakas can be streamlined, even as their presence is necessary for keeping the city safe. He said how when entering Chandigarh from the Phase 10 and 11 road from Mohali, the naka barricades have been put up just a few metres in front of the red light installed here, leading to traffic jams. He suggested that the barriers can be moved 50 or 100 metres inwards, and police can carry out the same checking but give more buffer for vehicles to line up and not block the intersections. Further places which see bottlenecks because of nakas also have this feature, and Singh said that the placement of nakas can be streamlined to improve the flow of traffic....