Working of police chowkies revealed in a RTI reply
4 Aug, 2012The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has shown that only 28 out of the 67 police chowkies or posts were functional in the city of Nagpur while another 21 are operating on temporary basis. Only 29 police chowkies had a dedicated telephone line.
The police chowkies are a possible source of help on the spot in case of assistance especially during an emergency. Depending upon the requirement of the area, the police chowkies are opened or closed. There have been complaints that many of the functional police chowkies are found locked during the time of need and the phone calls are not attended to. The police department needs to revive non-functional police chowkies and make a more effective use of the available manpower.
Manpower crunch at every police station due to increase in population, areas and responsibilities which has outnumbered the existing strength at every police station. The policemen too avoid these rickety chowkies and prefer to remain present elsewhere as the condition of some of the police chowkies is poor and lack any proper furniture, lights or fan. The policemen deployed at these posts are also expected to be on patrolling duty which leads to the chowkies being unmanned.