Pune police chief bats for metro

The Pune police commissioner, Meeran Borwankar, has supported the metro rail project for the city as she feels it will reduce traffic congestion. She was speaking at the inauguration of the traffic help booth installed by the Pune police at the Swargate State Transport (ST) bus depot on Wednesday morning.
Borwankar said, “The population of the city is growing and the city is expanding every day, thereby increasing traffic congestion on the roads. The metro will help lessen the traffic congestion in the city.”
A press communique issued by the traffic police stated that while 12% area in a growing city should be reserved for roads, only 6% was available for roads in Pune.
According to the police, there were 11.52 lakh vehicles in the city in 2004. This figure increased to a whopping 26.09 lakh by March 2010. The police said that in 2010-11, 2.86 lakh new vehicles were registered, of which 2 lakh are two-wheelers and 86,000 are other vehicles.
Deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Manoj Patil, told DNA that the increase in number of vehicles in the city had led to traffic congestion.
Blaming the poor quality of the Pune Municipal Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) services for the traffic congestion in the city, Patil said, “The PMPML service is poor in the city, as a result of which people continue to buy new vehicles, which results in congestion.”

New fleet of patrol cars for the Mumbai police

Mumbai:  The ubiquitous Qualis police patrolling jeeps that Mumbaikars are so accustomed to seeing at police stations and on the streets of the city will no longer be around.
Instead, a new fleet of sturdier Scorpios and Bolero jeeps will make their presence felt on patrols. More than 1,500 new jeeps will now act as a shot in the arm for local patrolling.
In fact, on April 5, hundreds of old police vehicles were put up for auction at the Motor Vehicle Transport (MT) headquarters at Byculla.
This could mean 1,141 vehicles will be headed for the scrap yard or will be refurbished by private owners to return on the streets of Mumbai after getting a new lease of life.

Meanwhile, the MT department has procured a new lot of 60 vehicles and police stations across the city will be given the new patrolling jeeps.
"Most of the Qualis and Gypsy patrol jeeps have outlived their lives," said Rajkumar Vhatkar, deputy commissioner of police, Mumbai police headquarters.
 "The new vehicles will add more punch to the patrolling rounds," he added.
Currently, around 3, 900 patrolling jeeps are distributed across the 90-odd police stations and other wings such as the Anti-narcotic Cell and the Mumbai crime branch.
The decision to procure new vehicles became a pressing issue when several of them had to be constantly sent for repairs and servicing.

Senior officials of the MT department said that until recently, at least 150 police vehicles were sent for repairs every day.

The new vehicles will also come as a huge relief to the staff deployed in police stations as many officers had to resort to requesting for private vehicles to perform their day-to-day duties.
 "Often, constables use public transport to reach their respective beats and even to investigate cases," said a senior police official. "This also hampers the functioning of the police stations," he added.
Incidentally, post the 26/11-terror attack, the Maharashtra government sanctioned a Rs. 200-crore budget for modernising the state police.
However, no budgetary allocations from that were disbursed for buying the patrolling jeeps, which are used daily and are the eyes and ears of the police.

A fleet of 219 vehicles (Qualis) were added to the police department in 2002, but in the last couple of years, their repairs have mounted huge bills, said senior officials.

The government had been paying huge amounts for procuring spares, which are often subjected to bureaucratic bottlenecks.
In 2004, 420 Boleros were added to the police patrol. "A huge amount of resources are spent on keeping the 997 jeeps roadworthy. The new lot of vehicles will come as a huge relief," said the official.
1,500
New fleet of jeeps added to the police department
3,900
Number of patrolling vehicles currently distributed among various police stations in the city
Staff Shortage
The problem was further compounded, as there is an acute shortage of maintenance staff at the MT workshops at Nagpada, Tardeo, Ghatkopar and Marol. 
The vacancies of ACPs (3), Inspectors (2), Sub-inspectors (18) and drivers (20) are yet to be filled up and have been lying vacant for the last couple of years.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/new-fleet-of-patrol-cars-for-the-mumbai-police-97004?cp

Mumbai Police : Police & IPL : Traffic police to follow World Cup setup for IPL

Traffic regulations and arrangements for the Indian Premier League (IPL), that begins this week, would be identical to arrangements put in place for the World Cup, the Mumbai Police Traffic Department said on Wednesday.
According to the traffic police, as the arrangements for the World Cup went off smoothly, the same measures would be put in place for the nine IPL matches to be played in Mumbai. The first IPL match in Mumbai will be played on April 15 when Mumbai Indians take on Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The last match is scheduled on May 25.
Like the World Cup, the IPL will also see large crowds and along with players’ security, it is important to maintain the smooth flow of traffic, Brijesh Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic) said.
“The World Cup traffic arrangements are tried and tested and they will be same for the IPL matches. We would have to make arrangements based on the fan following of the home team,” said Singh.

Mumbai Police : Cop arrested for woman's suicide in custody

MUMBAI: Sub-inspector Munir Shaikh of the Malwani police station was arrested on Thursday by the crime branch for compelling a woman to commit suicide. He has been remanded in police custody till April 11.
This is Shaikh's second arrest in the case. In December 2010, the Malwani police had arrested him under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 343 (wrongful confinement for three or more days) and 348 (wrongful confinement to extort confession or compel restoration of property) of the IPC. He was later released on bail of Rs 25,000. A few days later, the victim, Kunda Shinde, succumbed to her injuries, following which the police slapped section 306 (abetment of suicide) on Shaikh. Since then, the sub-inspector had been absconding. The case was later handed over to the crime branch.
According to the police, Shaikh had approached the sessions court for anticipatory bail. After it was rejected, he filed a plea in the high court, which, too, did not grant him relief, but told him that he could approach the Supreme Court within 10 days. "On Thursday, he informed the crime branch through an advocate that he wanted to surrender. As soon as he did that, the court sent him to police custody," said a police officer.
The case originated on December 14, 2010, when Rupali Sawant approached the Malwani police station, alleging that Kunda had stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 3 lakh from her house. Shaikh, who was given charge of the matter, called Shinde and her daughter Sonali to the police station and detained them for more than 24 hours.

A police officer said Shaikh should have registered an FIR and should have produced the Shindes before a court. But Shaikh released them only on December 16. But on December 21, he detained her again, along with her husband Chindu. This provoked her into hanging herself with a nylon rope inside her cell.
However, an alert constable freed her from the noose in the nick of time. She was admitted to hospital, where she died on December 31.
"Shaikh detained Shinde and her daughter without registering the arrests or making an entry in the police diary," an officer said. "If he was not confident about the two being behind the theft, he should have let them go after questioning."

Goa Police : Goa State Commission for Women (GSCW) is personally visiting each and every police station

 PANAJI: To check out the strength of women police staff in police stations and the condition of the police lock-ups that house women accused, the Goa State Commission for Women (GSCW) is personally visiting each and every police station in the state. The GSCW will then submit a report to the government with its recommendations.
Confirming this, GSCW chairperson Ezilda Sapeco said, "On Wednesday, we visited Bicholim and Pernem police stations and on Thursday we visited Porvorim, Mapusa, Anjuna and Calangute police stations. We intend to visit all police stations by mid April and submit a report with recommendations to the government by May for necessary action."
GSCW decided to visit all police stations as during the inquiry into the complaint of 29-year-old Geeta Pednekar, alias Sanjiwani Parab, who had complained to GSCW that she was arrested by Bicholim police at night and assaulted by them due to which she suffered injuries and had to be admitted to Goa Medical College and Hospital, it was found that the Bicholim police station didn't have enough women staff and the women's lock-up was in bad shape.

"We wrote to the collector and police inspector, after which the repairs were carried out. But now we want to ensure that every police station has a proper lock-up for women who are accused in a crime, as prisoners also have a right to stay in a decent place. Besides, we want to ensure that the women accused are interrogated by women police officers and for this it is essential that there is at least one woman officer of the rank of PSI and ASI at each police station," said Sapeco.
GSCW commission members said that at most of the police stations they visited they found that though there were women police constables, there was no woman PSI or ASI. This they said is not a good sign. "Women are progressing in every field but police have failed to appoint women PSIs and ASIs," said a GSCW member, who added that they will recommend to the government to recruit more women as PSIs and ASIs.

Jharkhand Police : Maoists kill Reliance executive in Jharkhand, say police

Ranchi : Suspected Maoists shot dead a Reliance Power executive near Hesatu village, 96 km from Chatra town in Jharkhand this afternoon, police said.
Manoj Ojha, a deputy general manager with Reliance Power, had gone to a place called Birbir with company vice-president H Buch, reportedly to inspect land for a proposed power plant. Two men allegedly fired on their vehicles, injuring both. “Ojha tried to escape, but his Bolero overturned. He died on the spot,” Chatra SP Prabhat Kumar said. Buch was learnt to have been flown out from Hazaribagh in a helicopter.
I-G R K Mallick said the Hesatu area is the stronghold of the People’s Liberation Front of India and Tritiya Prastuti Committee, breakaway factions of the CPI (Maoist).
By evening, paramilitary forces led by SP Kumar were “actively deployed” in the area, and highways to Hazaribagh and Chatra had reportedly been sealed. “The search will continue tomorrow,” Mallick said.

Guj Police : CAT stalls Modi govt's action against senior police officer

NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) scrapped Gujarat government's charge-memo to one of its senior most police officers, proposing to hold a departmental inquiry against him for allegedly harassing another IPS officer by registering a criminal case against him under the Official Secret Act.
New Delhi-based CAT's principal bench quashed the state's 'charge-memo' against its Additional Director General of Police Kuldeep Sharma saying "the undeniable impression that can be gathered is that he (Sharma) has fallen out of favour of the state government."
The CAT's bench comprising its chairman Justice VK Bali and member LK Joshi, quashed Gujarat government's charge-sheet against Sharma, a 1976 batch IPS officer, on a petition filed by his counsel I H Sayeed, accusing the state government of harassing him for opaque political reasons.
"From totality of the facts and circumstances of the case," the bench said, it is clear that Sharma "is adversely affected in his service career on all counts, be it his posting against a ex cadre post, downgrading of his Annual Confidential Records or not giving him vigilance clearance for central deputation."
The bench acceded to Sharma's contention that he has been shunted to an insignificant, out-of-cadre post of managing director, Gujarat sheep and wool development, despite "an unblemished service credentials spanned over a period of 33 years."