Be it containing social crimes, maintaining law and order or regulating traffic on roads in Srinagar, people in the militancy infested region look to the police to solve their problems. But when it comes to their own personal problems, there appears to be no one to address those.
In Srinagar’s volatile old city, after a hectic day of law and order almost every Friday, policemen rush to their respective police stations, but to their discomfort, most stations lack basic amenities.
Take the example of Srinagar’s oldest police station — MR Gunj in old city. There are between 50 and 60 policemen stationed for the night and there is no proper accommodation for them. There is one bathroom for these men. The building is in a dilapidated condition and many policemen stay in barracks.
“We live in real tough conditions,” said a policeman. “Neither the high-ups nor the government understands our requirements to operate effectively in stressful conditions that always prevail in areas like old city. We work round the clock and do not go home every evening like other employees,” he said.
Not only MR Gunj, but almost all police stations in Srinagar — 26 in number — are in a bad shape when it comes to living conditions, with only a few exceptions. A majority of police stations have insufficient accommodation. There are no separate toilets for policewomen.
“The poor working conditions are telling upon the health and work of policemen, including SHOs, non-gazetted officers and other ranks,” said a senior officer.
“The department has been trying to acquire land for a housing colony for policemen, but there has been no breakthrough on this serious issue for years,” he added.
The strength of policemen in every police station is not full. Police stations do not have the full strength of sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector, head constable and senior grade constable, affecting investigation into cases.
All police stations have at least one allotted vehicle and a few in areas where there is a law and order problem have been allotted more.
“Police officers of the respective stations are confused where to utilise the vehicle. There are VIP duty, urgent law and order problems and urgent criminal cases which have to be investigated. What should the police do with one vehicle?” said an officer of the rank of inspector. “It gets confusing how to operate in such conditions when there are always hostile conditions around,” he said.
There are always fuel allotment issues for vehicles allotted to these stations, which is too less. One of the police stations in the old city has three allotted vehicles and the government has sanctioned fuel for only one vehicle.
Police investigators complain that there are no funds for them for carrying out investigation into cases. “When an investigation has to be done, the investigating officer has no funds for it. He has to manage on his own. This pushes many investigators to adopt corrupt practices,” said an SHO.
In central Kashmir’s Budgam, the situation is no different. Some stations have vast areas under jurisdiction. The police stations here have poor living facilities.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, central Kashmir, Ghulam Hassan Bhat, admitted that there was an accommodation problem with police stations.
“Yes, we have issues with the accommodation of policemen. However, we do not have any problems with regard to vehicles. All police stations and police posts in the central Kashmir range have been allotted vehicles,” Bhat said.
Srinagar police face manpower, accommodation shortage
