Times of India: Mumbai: Tuesday,
April 15, 2014.
When the
Election Commission recently ordered removal of additional security cover for
VVIPs, the police found that more than 2,000 cops had been deployed over and
above the approved numbers for the purpose. The EC directed withdrawal of extra
security staff for MLAs, ministers, political leaders, businessmen and
Bollywood biggies, the majority of whom live or spend most of their time in
Mumbai. The 2,000-odd policemen have now been freed for poll duty, a senior
police official told TOI.
"It was
found that the majority of legislators had extra police personnel deployed over
and above the staff already engaged in accordance with the category of security
cover approved for them," said a senior police official.
An RTI query by Chetan Kothari has revealed
that five top heads in the state's ministry had 88 personnel to guard them in
2008. The number, revealed the reply obtained under RTI, rose to 119 in 2014. This
translates into roughly 23 cops per minister.
"In
2011, bungalows of nearly 49 ministers and top party leaders had 213 policemen
posted for security. Now, in 2014, the same stands at 236, and the number of
ministers and leaders has risen to 53," stated the information provided by
the police department in its RTI reply.
Police
sources said on April 17 and 24, when the state will see 19 Lok Sabha seats
each go to the polls, including 11 in the Mumbai metropolitan region, there
would be a requirement of over 60,000 personnel for each of the two phases,
which means a total staff of around 1.2 lakh on both days.
Officials
also ask why netas making inflammatory speeches should enjoy security cover at
the same time. The problem, say officials, becomes more acute during VVIP
visits.
"When
women on the roads are unsafe and accidents go unattended, politicians do not
seem serious in shifting the focus of police security from their own security
to public safety," said Kothari.
He further
said despite severe criticism of engaging police staff for their personal
security, rather than for the public which is their primary duty the VVIP cover
was only increased.
Another RTI
query by Kothari had recently revealed around 3,000 and 1,500 personnel were
engaged in Mumbai for PM and President's arrivals, respectively, taking away 72
of their public duty hours. Already, the city's 93 police stations have been
facing a staff crunch, making day-to-day work a difficult task.
IPS-officer-turned
lawyer Y P Singh said due to this growing practice of using police staff for
security and bandobast of VVIPs, the most important and basic public duties
such as investigation of criminal cases, following up cases in court, attending
general complaints of citizens, night patrolling and so on were taking a
backseat, affecting the overall scenario of public safety and law and order.
"It's
unfortunate that getting more security staff is becoming a status symbol among
politicians as well as bigwigs in other sectors. When any minister gets little
staff for security, it is seen as a humiliation and more people are pressed
into the job. This trend now needs to be changed as it is becoming a primary
reason for diversion of the police force's focus from public to private
security," he said.