Bhubaneswar: Amidst the brouhaha over the 5T initiative of the state government, a report Thursday exposed severe lack of infrastructure at the police stations in four districts including those in the twin city. The study, ‘State of Crime and Policing in Odisha’, was jointly published by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and Centre for Sustainable use of Natural and Social Resources (CSNR).
The study collected data from 84 police stations (24 in Bhubaneswar UPD, 22 in Cuttack UPD, 20 in Jajpur, and 18 in Kandhamal) during January 2017 and May 2018.
The study relied on RTI queries, Assembly questions, NCRB and BPRD data, strength and shortfall of police personnel with rank, gender and area-wise break-up, levels of representation of caste and religion within the police, conditions in police stations, adequacy of police housing, complaints against the police and compliance with duties under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The report says out of 84 surveyed police stations, only four has fire safety clearance. Only one police station of Bhubaneswar, two of Cuttack and one in Kandhamal have fire safety clearance while none of the police stations in Jajpur has fire safety clearance.
Similarly, the state government is yet to provide ramp facilities for differently-abled complainants at majority of these police stations in the state. There is only one police station in Kandhamal, seven in Bhubaneswar, two each in Cuttack and Jajpur, and one in Kandhamal which have ramp facility.
The report reveals that many police stations surveyed are not child-friendly. Nine police stations in Bhubaneswar, 17 in Cuttack, 10 in Jajpur and six in Kandhamal have no juvenile rooms.
The report exposed poor barrack facility for women cops where they can take rest after tiresome duty hours. Nine police stations in Capital city lack barracks for women staffers and almost all other police stations barring one in Cuttack don’t have barracks for lady staffers. Barrack facility for women staffers is available at two police stations in Jajpur and one in Kandhamal.
The study finds severe shortage of housing facilities for junior police personnel in these districts. It claims that 81.39 per cent (1,550) of the total police personnel were not allotted quarters. Most critically, out of 1,239 constables, only 199 (16.06 per cent) were allotted quarters.
The study also exposed the vacancies at the police stations.