Even though the district administration has asked all licensed arms holders in Lakhimpur district to deposit their firearms with the police ahead of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to commence from April 11, many gun owners have allegedly yet to comply with the order.
Lakhimpur district administration officials said despite communications by the election authorities, a section of licensed firearms holders have not deposited their arms to the police.
“The Lakhimpur district administration has asked all the licensed owners of firearms to deposit their arms at the nearest police stations by March 22. However, many firearms owners are not following the order in the district despite the expiry of the last date of submission,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
Licence-holders are mandated to deposit their guns in their jurisdictional police stations before the elections.
The most shocking part of the story is that many of such firearms have their licenses expired or not renewed.
According to sources, the district administration has not perused the matter related to expiry of such gun licenses so far and there have been lapses on part of the concerned departments in taking care of such weapons.