City police spent Rs 1.86 crore on winter session arrangements

Times of India‎‎‎‎: Nagpur: Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

City police, often found struggling to fund its infrastructure and other requirements, spent more than Rs 1.86 crore on installing closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, providing vehicles and arranging accommodation of staff during the last year's winter session of state legislature that lasted for 17 days precisely.

A query under Right to Information (RTI) Act revealed the fact that the city police had spent Rs 10.09 lakh for installing CCTV cameras at 49 places. In 2014, city cops had spent around Rs 8.40 lakh for setting up cameras at 40 places. RTI query further revealed that Rs 1.61 crore were spent by the city police on fuel and repair of vehicles for 2015 winter session. The amount is set to further escalate as the information on vehicles, procured from private vendors, is yet to be received. In 2014, police had spent around Rs 1.83 crore to provide vehicles during the session.

RTI answer also stated that Rs 14.67 lakh were spent on accommodation purposes, including repairs and other maintenance issues, during the winter session for the cops who were sent from other centres for attending bandobast duty in city. In 2014, the cost on accommodation was restricted to Rs 6.75 lakh. The reason for a hike in the last year can be attributed to a decision of city police top brass, basically CP SP Yadav, who wanted to ensure that the outstation cops stayed in comfortable arrangement rather than tents or in cramped dormitories or other shoddy accommodations.

City police, which are compelled to spend hefty amounts for winter session, are often struggling to allocate budgets for many heads and components that are crucial to its daily functioning like setting up CCTV cameras at every police station and maintaining them, procuring sophisticated computers, making separate arrangements for women cops, creating lock-up facilities at every police station, officers' room, adequate supply of stationary items and so on. In most police stations, officers are forced to share furniture and also use private vehicles for official works. Though CP Yadav has ensured smartphones are provided to all senior inspectors, the cops are still unsure whether the monthly bills for the same would be reimbursed to them.

Former city police chief PKB Chakravorty, also a staunch pro-Vidarbha leader, referred to the tendency of the government to spend funds unintelligently while reacting to substantial expense of the cops on several arrangements during winter assembly. "Not only police, most such expenditure of the government on the winter session is wasteful," he said. "Security is definitely necessary but the entire exercise seems unfruitful," said the former CP.

Tejinder Singh Renu, secretary of Vidarbha Taxpayers' Association, said such a huge amount would have been better spent on building police assets. "Taxpayers would have been happier if the cops spent such money on families of their martyred colleagues," he said.