Minister’s reply in Parliament throws light on miserable state of police

NEW DELHI:  As many as 863 police stations in the country do not even have a building of their own. Also, there are 267 police stations where telephone facility is not available and there are 129 police stations that don’t have the facility of wireless, according to information from the Ministry of Home Affairs. As many as 273 police stations in the country lack modern vehicles.

The shocking information was shared on Wednesday by Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir in the Rajya Sabha as he responded to a question on the issue. Ahir quoted the data from a report submitted by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), MHA’s think tank for police reforms.

“As per the latest report of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) about ‘Data on Police Organizations (as on 01.01.2017)’, the requisite information on police stations is as under,” Ahir said, as he cited data on lack of buildings, telephones, wireless and modern vehicles at police stations.

However, Ahir told the parliament, “’Police’ and ‘Law & Order’ are State subjects as per the Constitution of India. However, the Union government also supplements the efforts of state governments in equipping and modernizing their police forces by providing central assistance under the scheme of ‘Assistance to States for Modernization of Police’.”