At his weekly press briefing, Patel said this had encouraged the government to go ahead with a three-pronged attack on serious crime -- atrocities on the minorities, atrocities on the backward classes, and anti-national activities. This will begin on January 1.

He claimed that in the last three months the number of murder cases registered had gone down 16.25 per cent; attempt to murder cases 24.9 per cent; assault cases 13.3 per cent; and burglaries 9.75 per cent. However, robbery cases have gone up 3.55 per cent, and rioting cases 1.67 per cent.

Patel said these results of the police action plan had encouraged the decision to plan a strike on major crimes.

Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya said a three-member committee comprising the additional chief secretary (home), the director-general of police, and the additional director-general (criminal investigation) had been constituted to find out why some police stations had failed to implement the action plan in the last three months. The panel will suggest measures for curbing crime in such areas.

Pandya claimed that 76 per cent of the cases of crimes of a serious nature that had been committed in the state in the past few months had been solved. He also claimed that the overall law & order situation in Gujarat -- compared to other states in the country -- was satisfactory.