February 21, 6am: Gold chain of a woman robbed during her morning walk in the Agamkuan police station area

1pm: Two criminals try to strangle Arpita Singh, wife of Patna Medical College and Hospital teacher Dr Surendra Prasad Singh, while trying to loot their house at Sector E under Kankerbagh police station. The criminals flee when Arpita raises an alarm

1pm: Bike-borne criminals snatch the chain of Suman Devi, wife of a retired policeman, in the Police Colony area

3pm: Armed criminals rob the office of a liquor dealer at Telegraph Colony under Buddha Colony police station. The criminal decamp with around Rs 6.75 lakh

Four back-to-back incidents in one day have punched holes in the police claim that all is hunky-dory in the state capital. Alarmed by the rise in crime and scared for their own security, residents have started to question the effectiveness of the slew of security schemes launched by the police over the past few months.

The police have initiated a number of programmes to increase the security of residents and check crime in the state capital.

As early as May last year, the cops had decided to go from door to door and take down their details of the law and order problems the residents face. Then, in November, Patna Youth Club and Patna Police Aapke Saath drives were launched. Under the first scheme, residents were involved to help the cops with information about criminal activities, while contact numbers of senior police officers were made available to the residents under the second.

Crime, however, has continued to soar. Besides the four incidents yesterday, three murders were reported from the Alamganj area of Patna City last week.

Residents are displeased with the lack of policing and are worried for their security.

Shastri Nagar resident Indira Sinha said: “It is very scary to learn that two men forcibly entered the house of a woman and tried to strangle her. I want to ask the police: Where are the patrols and policemen on motorbikes?”

She added: “Thefts and chain-snatching incidents are common in Shastri Nagar. Something needs to be done soon to prevent things from becoming worse.”

“But what can we expect when senior police officers get embroiled in catfights with residents?” the housewife said referring to the alleged clash between city superintendent of police Kim and Sujata, a resident of the Tiwary Bechar area under Kankerbagh police station, on Monday.

Police officers, too, are not very confident about the effectiveness of the schemes that have been launched. One of them told The Telegraph: “There might be a lot of plans and announcements. A lot has been announced in the past few months. But most of the officers in the state capital are not competent to enforce the schemes. Some of them take things very lightly and do not have any information about how to deal with various cases.”

He added: “For instance the Quick Mobile teams. You will often find the team members resting at tea stalls instead of carrying out extensive patrolling. It is very frustrating to work with such people.”

Senior officers, however, claimed that efforts were on to implement the schemes. Senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar was unavailable for comment but a deputy superintendent of police-rank officer said: “The schemes launched by the police are being implemented. There might be a few hiccups but results will be seen soon. Give the schemes some time.”