CAG: Manpower shortage has impacted Delhi Police
New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) The functioning of the Delhi Police is being affected by shortages in manpower which has also impacted the investigation of crimes and bringing criminals to justice, observes the CAG’s Performance Audit report on Manpower and Logistics Management in Delhi Police.
The report was presented in Parliament on Wednesday.
According to the report, it was found that the functioning of the Delhi police is being affected by shortages in manpower.
The MHA had approved 12,518 posts with advice to operationalise 3139 posts first and then remaining 9379 posts after deployment of 3139 personnel on ground.
However, due to failure of Delhi Police to recruit against these 3139 posts, the remaining 9379 approved posts could not be operationalised.
Representation of women in Delhi Police was 11.75 per cent, which was much lower than the desired target of 33 per cent.
At the 72 police stations test-checked by the audit had staff as per the norms prescribed by BPR&D there was 35 per cent shortage of manpower.
Acute shortage of staff has put police personnel under tremendous strain as their average daily duty hours in the six test-checked police districts (Central, New Delhi, South, Dwarka, North East and Rohini) ranged from 12 to 15 hours against eight hours as prescribed under the Model Police Act 2006, said the report.
The report also observed that the police stations in the selected districts also suffered from shortage of vehicles, which severely limited quick response to law and order situations.
PCR Vans and Tourist MPVs were operating with only 4,144 police personnel against a requirement of 6,171 and 55 per cent of the MPVs were operating without a gunman, the report read.
It was also observed that the Delhi Police has installed 3870 CCTV cameras in entire Capital at strategic locations.
The percentage of cameras functioning satisfactorily is abysmally low, ranging from entirely defunct camera (pilot phase) to 31 per cent to 44 per cent defunct cameras in various other phases.
Despite being the National Capital’s specialised Counter Terror Unit, the Special Cell’s Ranges were ailing from deficiencies in terms of availability of vehicles, protective equipment like bulletproof jackets, and arms & ammunition, which are vital for quick in real time response, the report read.
The report also observed that the Himmat Plus Mobile App, which is a women’s safety centric application was launched by Delhi Police in February 2018, as an upgradation of the earlier Himmat App. In spite of sizeable expenditure (18.5 lakh on development of Himmat Plus and 6.82 crore on publicity of Himmat and Himmat Plus), response of the users to the App was lukewarm.
It was also noticed that there was an increase in heinous crimes from 4,159 in 2013 to 5,185 in 2019.
The registration of heinous crimes increased sharply from year 2013 (4159) to 2015 (11187) however, thereafter it has continuously decreased during 2015-2019, indicating a positive trend.
–IANS
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