Berhampur: Police on Sunday paraded more than 100 history-sheeters in an attempt to "reform them and bring them to the mainstream of life".

"We have planned such a 'goonda parade' in a big way in various police stations every Sunday. We are trying to ensure the participation of maximum number of criminals at such parades," said superintendent of police, Berhampur, Pinak Mishra.

Additional police superintendent Trinath Patel said: "The main aim of this concept is to have a constant vigil over them so that they do not resort to any further criminal activities. The parade will have a deterring effect on them. We are collecting phone numbers and addresses of the history-sheeters along with their family and other details. Many are out on bail. The parade dates will be fixed and communicated early so that the history-sheeters can assemble at their respective police stations for the parade."

Addressing the history-sheeters during parade, inspectors of the respective police stations tried to reform them after counselling.

"We have warned them of strict action if they indulged in further criminal activities," said inspector in charge of B.N. Pur police station J.K. Patnaik.

"All the police stations in Berhampur area have been asked to conduct such parade every week. Though no time limit has been fixed for these parades, it may take an hour or two as we need enough time to reform them through counselling. We need some time to counsel them to bring them back to social mainstream," Patel said. This is first-of-its-kind initiative in the state and the response from the history-sheeters is very encouraging, he added.