The footfall of morning and evening walkers has increased at already crowded walking tracks in Bistupur, Kadma and Sonari of the city as they dropped the practice of walking at isolated places in fear of falling prey to snatchers' gangs.

A spurt in snatching incidents in the city during the spell of Covid-19 pandemic forced such people to avoid walking in isolation, something which would give them more pleasure.

"I had been doing the morning walk routinely at the isolated Outer Circle Road since the past decade. But I have stopped walking in isolation and have now started visiting the G-Town ground's walking track instead, the only reason behind the change of place being the fear of falling victim to the snatchers," said Mahendra Soni, a businessman and resident of Bistupur to The Telegraph Online.

Similarly, Murari Agarwal, who is also a Bistupur resident, has started carrying out his walk at the crowded walking-track along Kadma-Sonari Link Road.

"Being time-conscious, I want to finish the walk within a stipulated period of time. This is why I used to walk with my headphones tucked in the ears at any lonely stretch so that I could evade any acquaintance. But given the prevailing law and order situation, I could no longer take the risk of walking alone," said Agarwal.

Like Soni and Agarwal, scores of others who used to do their morning or evening walking conveniently in isolation have resorted to visiting crowded walking-tracks in Bistupur, Kadma and Sonari, fearing the prowling snatcher gangs.

Bike-borne criminals use to move around the isolated places and snatch mobile phones or gold chains from morning or evening walkers, something which is regular in the steel city.

Walking tracks are in Jubilee Park, G-Town ground, Kadma-Sonari Link Road and at Joggers Park behind Monibaba temple in Sonari.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Composit Control Room) Animesh Gupta said they have deployed mobile cops for providing security to the morning or evening walkers across the city.

"If the morning or evening walkers still have apprehension of falling prey to the snatchers, then we will further intensify the patrolling," said the DSP (CCR) to The Telegraph Online.