Police in Maharashtra have reacted sharply to the Home Department’s recent order cutting down their fuel supply lines to 10 litres per vehicle. Police say the situation is akin to their being shackled just as criminals are handcuffed. ‘‘Law enforcement will be the first casualty,’’ says a senior police officer, adding speed matters a lot in enforcing law and order. ‘‘What if there is a dacoity and the local police station is running on empty fuel tanks? Will the officers sit back and twiddle their thumbs while the thieves waltz away,’’ he asks. Police drivers are also trying to drive home another point. There are five police petrol pumps in Mumbai. Surprisingly, four of them are not used as their underground tanks are empty. With only the pump at Worli functional, all the 1,698 police vehicles go there to fill their tanks up. And now, the latest order threatens to throw the situation out of gear. Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Javed Ahmad admits that four of the pumps are non-functional but does not explain why. There’s another argument that the police give. Every senior police inspector is ferried between his residence and the police station in a Qualis every day. A driver in Mumbai North East says: ‘‘I drive 50 km a day to pick up my boss and drive him to work and then back to his residence in the evening before I return the Qualis to the police station every day. The police station is in Mulund and he stays in Borivali. This itself consumes 5 litres of oil. ‘‘With only 5 litres left, how much mileage will actual policing receive?’’ he asks. Commissioner of Police R.S. Sharma, when contacted, says the 10-litre restriction will not affect crime control or night patrolling. ‘‘Each police station has three patrol vans per shift. This will be enough to control crime within the 6 km radius of a police station,’’ he says. Paralysed by a billowing Rs 83,000-crore debt, the state government had cut the fuel supply lines of both the state and city police. In an order issued in February, the State Home Department restricted the quantity of fuel allowed per police vehicle to 10 litres. And what made the government take this step was the assumption that police vehicles were being misused when fuel was not rationed. Minister of State for Home (Rural) Kripashankar Singh says the decision will cut by half the Rs 10-crore allocation for fuel for the state police force.
