Imphal, December 10: Personnel of Kumbi Police Station are the most busiest cops in Manipur these days and they have even forgotten to eat and sleep while trying to sell the tickets of the 'Happy New Year Bumper Lottery' to be held on January 1, 2007 at Ningthoukhong Public Parking ground.

The lottery is being organised to collect fund for the Ningthoukhong-based Sports and Local Development Co-ordinating Committee of which the Works and YAS Department Minister Govindas Konthoujam is said to be the chief advisor.

According to information received by the press, one particular Minister handed over bundles of tickets of the bumper lottery to a police officer of Bishnupur district who in turn distributed them among the various police stations of the district for selling them.

Consequently, Kumbi Police Station also received its share of the work and since then all its personnel have been out on the road selling the tickets to all the passers-by and vehicles luring them with the possibility of winning a brand new Honda Activa as the first prize of the bumper lottery.

Whether all the passers-by and the vehicles are willing to become the proud owner of the promised prize or they are amused by the sight of the gun-wielding cops trying to sell the tickets is altogether another story.

The normal duty of the police personnel who have been frisking and checking the people along the road to check the movement of underground cadres has been reportedly stopped for the past few days.

Instead of that, the police personnel led by a police officer who sits on a chair placed under a shade on the road side, have been stopping all the passers-by and vehicles compelling them to buy the lottery tickets with such rare polite words like 'Please buy a ticket for Rs 30 only and try your luck'.

The registration numbers of all the vehicles which have bought the tickets were also reportedly noted down by the hawking policemen.

Fired by the zeal of selling off their share of the lottery tickets, some police personnel who were on their 'newly assigned duty' right in front of Kumbi Police Station today stopped a Tata Sumo carrying mediapersons who have gone to cover a new report and compelled the driver to buy a ticket.

The number of the ticket is A 0951.Some of the vehicle drivers who have bought the tickets mainly out of fear, disclosed that the intimidating police personnel had even asked them to sell the tickets.

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