Hyderabad: For all the big talk about modernising the police force and making it better equipped, Andhra Pradesh tops the list among the south Indian states when it comes to poor infrastructure. Sixty-four of its police stations still do not have vehicles. Next is Karnataka where there are nine police stations which do not have a telephone!
Across the country, there are 999 police stations that still do not have telephones, 362 police stations that do not have vehicles, and 278 that are without a wireless set or a mobile — something that is hard to digest given the ever increasing challenges on the law and order front for all state police forces.
According to the latest ‘Data on Police Organisa-tions’ (till January 1, 2018) published by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Andhra Pradesh, which has a total of 1,021 police stations, has vehicles for 957 police stations while 64 are without vehicles. Sources say that the 64 police stations either hire the vehicles or are dependent on the locals providing them transport when needed.
In Karnataka, which has 1,048 police stations, nine are without telephones. In Tamil Nadu, which has the highest number of police stations in the country — 1,962 — 15 police stations are without telephones.
Both Telangana and Kerala, with a total of 788 and 523 police stations respectively, have vehicles, telephones and wireless sets in all their police stations. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are often in the news for policing and law and order issues. While all the 1,532 police stations in UP have vehicles, telephones and wireless sets, Bihar continues to lag behind. Of the 1,064 police stations in Bihar, 254 still do not have a telephone and 87 are without wireless or mob-iles. In Jharkhand, out of the 527 police stations, 27 without vehicles and 218 without telephones.
Chhattisgarh also fares poorly with 131 police stations out of the total 453 not having vehicles and 41 without telephones. Police officials say that for Chhattisgarh, which is the hotbed for Naxals, the poor facilities could spell disaster. Madhya Pradesh too is a shocker with 102 of the 1,100 police stations not have a vehicle.
The problem of poor infrastructure for policemen also exists in Odisha where 17 of the 625 police stations, are without a vehicle, and 13 have no telephone.
