Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

More work and less manpower

FOR HALF-a-year now, the Commissioner of Police, Vijay Kumar, has been shouldering too many responsibilities. Besides heading a sensitive Commissionerate, the second largest in the State, he also holds an additional charge as the Deputy Inspector-General of Police of Madurai and Dindigul Ranges.

Police sources at the Commissonerate say most of his day is spent on clearing files or `tapals' and there is not much of time left for routine functions such as inspection of police stations, armed reserve establishments etc. in the vast jurisdiction, which he is manning now.

The `prolonged' vacancies in different ranks are only increasing the burden on the police in this part of the State. Apart from hundreds of vacancies in lower ranks, four of the five sanctioned Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) posts are also lying vacant. While no officer has yet been appointed for the newly created DCP (Traffic) post, the DCP (Crimes), V.H. Mohammed Haneefa, is holding an additional charge of DCP (Law and Order), DCP (Headquarters) and DCP (Armed Reserve).

With not much of a direct supervision by senior officers, there seems to be a perceptible change in the crime graph. In the Temple City, there is a marginal rise in the number of robberies, housebreaks and major thefts, compared to the previous year. While the rate of detection soared to 94 per cent last year, it lingers at around 56 per cent this year. The rate of property recovery has also come down from 82 per cent to 37 per cent.

However, these statistics are as on October 31, and officials hope that the figures would improve by the year-end. Adding to the vacancies in sanctioned strength, there is also an acute shortage of vehicles. There are hardly two jeeps for each of the 16 police stations, which are used by the Inspectors of Law and Order and Crime wings. "There should, at least, be one vehicle for each police station for patrolling and emergency operations. Compared to the number of vehicles provided to the Coimbatore city police, we do not even have half of it," says an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

During the recently concluded Thevar Jayanti celebrations, the police had to draw manpower and vehicles from other units.

Though the celebrations went off incident-free, the security arrangements would have been more effective, had there been regular DCPs for Law and Order, Traffic and Headquarters.

"Though there was an adequate strength, we had to call senior officers before taking decisions. Some wilful violation of permit conditions by the processionists could have been avoided," he added.

With the accelerated promotions for 750-odd police personnel attached to the Special Task Force, which eliminated the forest brigand, Veerappan, and his associates recently, it is likely that a few vacancies at the top level will be filled soon, the police sources say.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Army training centres proposed in districts
More impressive programme for foreign tourists
Demonstration for community certificates
Unity pledge administered
Power cut
Around the City
In Madurai Today
More work and less manpower

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu