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KARACHI: More than Rs117 million is spent every month on the security of senior officials, legislators, politicians and other important personalities at taxpayers expense from the regular budget of the Sindh police, Dawn has learnt.
According to the figures collected through police sources, one policeman costs the department around Rs26,000 every month and nearly 4,500 regular policemen have been detailed to protect individuals in addition to the sanctioned strength of police guards.
In all, 6,000 policemen are performing guard duties to protect different personalities on security grounds, said an official requesting anonymity.
Around 4,500 policemen of them have been additionally detailed on guard duties, as the sanctioned strength of police guards is quite less.
On an average, he said, the department spent Rs26,000 on remuneration of each policeman every month.
In addition, the police departments annual fuel budget is also affected, as the personnel on guard duties use police vehicles and fuel while travelling with individuals, said the official.
Roughly speaking, 200 vehicles remain attached with the security of individuals at a time, he said, adding that the maintenance of these vehicles was an additional burden on the police budget.
Allocations
The Sindh government increased the police budget to Rs24.9 billion in the financial year 2009-10. The allocation, which was 11 per cent higher than the previous years budget of Rs21.39 billion, included Rs1.2 billion for acquiring vehicles, a surveillance system and modern ammunition.
Besides, separate allocations of about Rs22 million were made for the criminalistic division which is recently mandated to place more focus on investigating cases on scientific lines and the two recently-established anti-extremism cell and the foreign security cell of the police.However, the very head which consumes more than Rs117 million of the police budget every month is not defined in the budget document.
The authorities argue that spending on the security of individuals mostly government functionaries did not affect the overall allocations very much because the government increased the police budget from Rs15 billion to more than Rs24 billion over the last two years.
Security of every citizen is as important as that of any important person, said Jameel Soomro, adviser to the Sindhs chief minister and spokesman for the provincial government.
The overall spending on security duties is not a big amount that is deducted from the police budget. But you have seen that the police budget has been increased from Rs15 billion to Rs24 billion and it will further go up over the next few years.
Despite understandable resentment among the police hierarchy over guard duties, which not only reduces the departments annual budget but also cuts police strength for regular operations, police high-ups avoided commenting on the subject.
Experts believed it was the right time for the people at the helm of affairs to devise a strategy so that serious problems such as weak strength and resources of the police organisation were addressed.
Practically speaking, there is hardly 10 per cent of force available for regular policing, said Ahmed Chinoy, the chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC).
Most policemen are either deployed as security guards or performing duties which doesnt help operational policing. Level of threat to important personalities is higher than ever before and for that purpose one cannot compromise on their security. But to deal with new challenges, you need to look for new ways and better policies.He said the authorities should increase the funding and strength of the police to meet the present challenges. Otherwise, ones security would be compromised for the sake of anothers, said Mr Chinoy.
We have nearly 30,000 policemen in the metropolis that by any standard is not enough to cater to the city needs. With the given resources the police department has, if a majority of policemen is withdrawn from operational duties to protect individuals and installations, it would definitely affect the overall performance of the department, the CPLC chief said.
DAWN.COM | Local | Rs117 million spent by police every month on VIP security
According to the figures collected through police sources, one policeman costs the department around Rs26,000 every month and nearly 4,500 regular policemen have been detailed to protect individuals in addition to the sanctioned strength of police guards.
In all, 6,000 policemen are performing guard duties to protect different personalities on security grounds, said an official requesting anonymity.
Around 4,500 policemen of them have been additionally detailed on guard duties, as the sanctioned strength of police guards is quite less.
On an average, he said, the department spent Rs26,000 on remuneration of each policeman every month.
In addition, the police departments annual fuel budget is also affected, as the personnel on guard duties use police vehicles and fuel while travelling with individuals, said the official.
Roughly speaking, 200 vehicles remain attached with the security of individuals at a time, he said, adding that the maintenance of these vehicles was an additional burden on the police budget.
Allocations
The Sindh government increased the police budget to Rs24.9 billion in the financial year 2009-10. The allocation, which was 11 per cent higher than the previous years budget of Rs21.39 billion, included Rs1.2 billion for acquiring vehicles, a surveillance system and modern ammunition.
Besides, separate allocations of about Rs22 million were made for the criminalistic division which is recently mandated to place more focus on investigating cases on scientific lines and the two recently-established anti-extremism cell and the foreign security cell of the police.However, the very head which consumes more than Rs117 million of the police budget every month is not defined in the budget document.
The authorities argue that spending on the security of individuals mostly government functionaries did not affect the overall allocations very much because the government increased the police budget from Rs15 billion to more than Rs24 billion over the last two years.
Security of every citizen is as important as that of any important person, said Jameel Soomro, adviser to the Sindhs chief minister and spokesman for the provincial government.
The overall spending on security duties is not a big amount that is deducted from the police budget. But you have seen that the police budget has been increased from Rs15 billion to Rs24 billion and it will further go up over the next few years.
Despite understandable resentment among the police hierarchy over guard duties, which not only reduces the departments annual budget but also cuts police strength for regular operations, police high-ups avoided commenting on the subject.
Experts believed it was the right time for the people at the helm of affairs to devise a strategy so that serious problems such as weak strength and resources of the police organisation were addressed.
Practically speaking, there is hardly 10 per cent of force available for regular policing, said Ahmed Chinoy, the chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC).
Most policemen are either deployed as security guards or performing duties which doesnt help operational policing. Level of threat to important personalities is higher than ever before and for that purpose one cannot compromise on their security. But to deal with new challenges, you need to look for new ways and better policies.He said the authorities should increase the funding and strength of the police to meet the present challenges. Otherwise, ones security would be compromised for the sake of anothers, said Mr Chinoy.
We have nearly 30,000 policemen in the metropolis that by any standard is not enough to cater to the city needs. With the given resources the police department has, if a majority of policemen is withdrawn from operational duties to protect individuals and installations, it would definitely affect the overall performance of the department, the CPLC chief said.
DAWN.COM | Local | Rs117 million spent by police every month on VIP security
