Rajasthan received 4,500 arms licence applications in 2021-22, shows govt data

The number of people applying for arms licences in Rajasthan saw an increase in 202122 as compared to the number of applications received during the 20152020 periodAccording to the data provided by the home department in Rajasthan Assembly more than 4500 applications of arms licences were received in the year 202122 as compared to 10992 applicants in 20152020However the number of licences issued remain low as only 454 licences were issued in 202122There may be more people who want a licence for owning a weapon but as far as the licensing authority is concerned only few licences are issued after taking into account the reasons given by the applicants Additional Chief Secretary Anand Kumar saidAsked if the rising number of applications is due to poor security in the state he said people have different reasons to own weaponsJaipur police commissioner Anand Srivastava said in the Jaipur circle there is no significant rise in the number of arms licence applications and it is almost steady from past few yearsMost of the applications that come are either from those who inherit weapons of their forefathers or those who are into professional shooting Some of them come from people having an army background who love to own a weapon he saidAlso read I understand trickery used by PM Modi in his speeches Rajasthan CM Ashok GehlotHowever a Jaipurbased gun shop owner requesting anonymity claimed the number of applications can also be attributed to security concerns that have increased in the recent past in the stateHe said after increased presence of gangsters and extortion demands by them from businessmen and traders people want to carry a weapon to avoid any untoward situation Of late extortion demands from affiliates of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi have come to light forcing police to take action against them and those who follow them on social media the shop owner saidHe also claimed that only influential people that is either bureaucrats or politicians get the licence for weapons in the state Out of 454 arms licences issued in the year 202122 a total of 33 people who are either bureaucrats or children of politicians got the licencesIn Rajasthans Dholpur 18 arms licences were issued from 2018 to 2022 of which most of them were politicians or their family members These include expelled BJP MLA Shobharani Kushwah and Congress MLA Giriraj Singh MalingaAccording to the Home Departments 2020 report the state has about 170 lakh arms licences Approximately Udaipur has the highest 27700 arms licences followed by 10400 in Banswara 9900 in Chittorgarh 9400 in Sriganganagar and 9300 in NagaurThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever