Data collected by the Bureau of Police Research and Development shows as many as 1,211 police stations – about 8% of India’s 15,555 police stations – do not have a functional telephone. The data, which was collected by the bureau for its upcoming annual report on police organisations in India, also shows 260 police stations (1.6%) do not have a vehicle, and 103 police stations (0.66%) do not have wireless sets as on January 1.
These numbers have left the bureau baffled because they differ significantly from corresponding figures published in its last annual report, Data on Police Organisations 2016. In that report, 402 police stations were reported to be operating without functional telephones, 188 police stations did not have vehicles, and 65 were operating without both telephones and wireless sets as on January 1, 2016. The states with the worst figures under each of the three categories that year were Chhattisgarh, with 161 police stations without vehicles; Madhya Pradesh, with 111 police stations without functional telephones; and Manipur, with 43 police stations having neither wireless sets nor telephones.
“We have written to all police organisations to cross check their numbers,” said MC Borwankar, director general of Bureau of Police Research and Development. “This is the first time that the bureau went for an online process for gathering such data and police organisations were first trained and then asked to fill up each form themselves.”
The Bureau of Police Research and Development comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
Data mess up?
A senior official posted with the research wing of the bureau pointed out some sharp differences from last year’s report. Gujarat, which has reported 630 police stations without functional telephones this year, had none under the same category last year. Similarly, Assam reported 137 police stations without telephones as compared to none last year.
Data submitted to the Bureau of Police Research and Development by the Jharkhand Police this year shows that the state has 23 police stations without vehicles, 64 without telephones and 11 without both telephones and wireless sets as compared to zero in all three categories last year. Tripura reported 11 police stations without telephones, compared to none last year. Nagaland too reported 11 police stations without telephones and wireless sets, compared to no such case last year, data shows.
It is not just a question of suspected incorrect data submission by the police organisations this year, the officer said. “It is possible that they did not submit proper data in the previous years and the published figures were actually under-reported,” said the officer. “A notification was issued on July 15, asking all police organisations across states to verify their data once again and communicate with BPRD [Bureau of Police Research and Development] in case of any corrections at the earliest.”
Not much change
It is not unusual for police stations in India to function without such basic facilities. But figures pertaining to the lack of these facilities were only available once the Bureau of Police Research and Development started including the relevant data in its annual report on police organisations.
The bureau first included police station data regarding telephones and wireless sets in its 2012 annual report, and added data about vehicles in 2014.
On January 1, 2012, there were 296 police stations in the country reportedly working without telephones, while 100 had neither telephones nor wireless sets. In 2014, 400 police stations were reported as having no vehicles.
So far, though issues related to terrain have been cited as the prime reason for police stations operating without such basic facilities, it is not the only one.
“There are police stations in certain areas where four-wheelers cannot operate, landline connections have not reached, and, as far as wireless sets are concerned, they fall under dead network zones,” said a senior Bureau of Police Research and Development official. “Terrain issues often act as a hurdle in hills, forested area and desert zones. But there are strategic issues too.”
By way of explanation, the officer cited the example of a police station in the Northeast where no vehicle, telephone or wireless facility could be brought because of the strong presence of United Liberation Front of Asom militants in the area till 10 years ago. “It was part of an informal arrangement,” the officer said. “The main objective of the police station there was intelligence gathering and not ensuring law and order as the police was never in a position to confront members of the banned outfit there.”
The officer added: “Similar issues are faced by states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh where the police often find themselves in a fix when it comes to dealing with Naxal forces. There have been instances in which their wireless sets and vehicles were snatched by members of banned outfits.”
