Sindh police likely to get major chunk of provincial budget yet again

IG proposes 35% increase in Sindh police dept's budget in upcoming fiscal year

KARACHI: The Sindh police will probably get a huge chunk of the provincial budget once again in return for providing and delivering better results in curbing crime across the province.

The Inspector General of Police, Allah Dino Khawaja has proposed a nearly 35% increase in the police department's budget to combat crimes and terrorism, especially in Karachi.

"We have proposed a 35% increase in the budget of the Sindh police for the fiscal year 2017-18," the chief of police's finance wing, DIG Imran Yaqoob Minhas, told The Express Tribune. "Last year, the police budget was about Rs72 billion, while this year we have asked for Rs96 billion and there is a reason for it," he said.



During the fiscal year 2016-17, 20,000 personnel were recruited in the police department to improve the efficiency of operations across the province. Earlier this year, 10,000 recruits were inducted and of these 60% were posted in the traffic department, 20% in the Rapid Response Force and as many as part of the security service for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Nearly 8,000 more inductions will be done in this fiscal year. Most of these will be hosted by the Karachi range, while the rest by Hyderabad, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur and the Information Technology Cadre.

According to the proposal, this year the funds are related to three major expenses - employees' salaries, operational and development expenditure. "Since we will have 28,000 more cops, we need a budget for their salaries that's why we have asked the major increase in the upcoming budget," Minhas said. He added that Rs58 billion was the salary component in the last budget, while this time they have asked for Rs79billion for the salary component. "The budget proposal is simple. We have asked for Rs94 billion and let's see how much we actually get," he said.



According to Minhas, 85% of the amount in the budget proposal has been earmarked for employee-related expenses, while 15% funds will be spent on operational expenses. In the previous budget, he said, Rs2.5 billion was allocated for the transport component and other assets, which include the procurement of the gadgets such as armoured personnel carriers and police mobiles. However, this time the department has decreased it and asked for Rs2 billion for other assets, he added. The police have also proposed the set-up of over a dozen new police stations in upper Sindh.

For the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police, nearly Rs2.2 billion was allocated in the previous budget while this time Rs3.2 billion has been asked for it. Out of 20,000, nearly 1,500 police officers have been recruited in the CTD.

"Most of these 1,500 cops have already been given their appointment letters while the remaining newly recruited cops will get them soon," said a senior officer of the CTD, on the condition of anonymity. "The department has also asked for an allocation in budget for capacity building of the new recruits," he added.

Utilisation of previous year's budget

Speaking about the achievements of the last budget, he said the Sindh police purchased at least six GSM locators in the last budget - three for the CTD and remaining three for the Karachi and upper Sindh police. The police department also upgraded its software in the last budget, he added.

"A total of five CTD police stations were to be established across the province, but so far only three have been made completely functional in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur," he said, adding that unfortunately, the two in Larkana and Mirpurkhas have been notified but are not properly operational so far.

He said that nearly Rs150 million was allocated for the special branch of the Sindh police but the department could not use the money for revamping the branch due to multiple reasons. The new forensic science laboratory of the Sindh police, which was to be established by the home department, could not be established so far, for which Rs2.5 billion was allocated in the last budget.