GUWAHATI, Feb 19 - More than two years after the Police Commissionerate was established in Guwahati, the police stations in the city are set for a major facelift.
The conditions of most of the police stations in the capital city have been pathetic, lacking even the basic infrastructure, including a proper building, furniture and other stationery. Landline telephones at many stations in the city are out of order due to non-payment of bills.
Commissioner of Police Hiren Nath said new buildings have been sanctioned for Gitanagar and Hatigaon Police Stations.
�The Jalukbari outpost will be made a state-of-the-art police station. Three police stations � Panbazar, Basistha and Jalukbari � will be revamped under the Project Maitree,� he told The Assam Tribune.
The Dispur Police Station will be shifted to a building near the Last Gate area.
The present building where the Dispur Police Station is housed belongs to the General Administration Department (GAD). It was shifted to the building about six years back.
The GAD had been issuing �clearance notices� to the personnel at the Dispur Police Station, stating that the ongoing process of construction of the ministers� quarters in the vicinity of the State Secretariat is being delayed due to non-clearance of the site.
The earlier building where it was housed is now a temporary control room for the Assembly, which is used only when the sessions are on.
The plight of many city police stations in the capital city have been similar.
Police stations of Hatigaon, Jorabat, Gitanagar, Satgaon, Bhangagarh, Fatasil Ambari, etc, do not have their own buildings and are on rent.
Insufficient space has plagued most of the police stations, especially Bhangagarh � the building has been provided by the GMCH provisionally � and Paltan Bazar. There is very little or no space at all to keep the seized items, including vehicles, prompting the personnel to leave them in open areas and public spaces to perish.
�As the buildings are not their own, the officials do not have a sense of belonging, which is hampering the work culture. Generally, the personnel stay far from the police stations as there are no facilities for accommodation within the police station. As such, they want to finish up fast and rush back home,� a senior city police official said.
The city police is already grappling with acute manpower shortage, with the actual men in position at present much less than the strength sanctioned more than two decades back. Shortage of vehicles, including patrolling cars, has added to the woes of the men in uniform.
