Police Commissioner V.N. Singh was the first to tell the media earlier this month that he was worried about robberies, especially those committed inside houses. He also agreed that north-west Delhi was a gray area.

Singh, however, pointed out that a plan had been drawn up to check the sudden spurt in such incidents. He also directed his officers to ensure that cases were freely registered. His colleague and newly appointed Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Amod Kanth toed a similar line while speaking on the same issue this afternoon.

Kanth, who returned to Delhi Police after eight years, said: ``We are alarmed about the rise in robberies, but we are also working towards better policing.''

All SHOs have been asked to register robbery cases without taking into account the amount of money involved. ``Unless cases are registered freely, prompt action cannot be taken. It also helps to build up information on criminals,'' said Kanth.

``We need to establish crime record bureaus in the districts. The Crime Branch has narrowed down the number of desperate criminals in Delhi to 160 and efforts are on to nab them. But we are now focussing our attention on novices because they were behind most of the recent robberies.''

He said that 229 cases of robbery had been registered till May 31, and around 58 percent of these had been solved. The figures, however, were much lower than other metropolitan cities in the world like London where 2,300 cases had been registered during the same period. ``The crime rate will be much lower if citizens avoid lavish display of jewellery, travelling on dark isolated roads during odd hours, taking lift from strangers and letting in unknown people inside their homes,'' said Kanth.

Police headquarters has, nevertheless, decided to beef up the district crime cells and operational cells -- which have been identified as weak areas -- for curbing robberies. More emphasis will also be given on patrolling, with redefined routes for the 350 PCR vans and 250 motorcycles on duty every day.

Vulnerable areas in north-west, north-east, south and south Delhi have identified in this regard. And patrolling will be at its peak between 5 p.m. and midnight as most of the robberies have been committed during this period.