Nine police stations in the city are located away from the places that give them their names. This causes considerable inconvenience to people who need to lodge complaints with the police.
The Ghalib Market police station in Gulberg is located at Main Market; Shadara Town police station on GT Road far from Shadara Town; Ichhra police station in Shadman; Lohari Gate police station in Anarkali; Baghbanpura police station in Mughalpura; Rang Mehal police station at Mochi Gate; Qila Gujjar Singh police station in Garhi Shahu, Ravi Road police station in Timber Market and Sanda police station in Gulshan-i-Ravi.
Ali Jamal, a Muslim Town resident, said he had spent more than three hours last week looking for Ghalib Market police station. He said he had gone to the area to visit a friend and was robbed of his mobile phone at gunpoint on his way back. Finally, he said, he was told at Gulberg police station that the Ghalib Market police station was near Main Market and not in Ghalib Market.
Javed Ashraf, a Green Town resident, went through a similar ordeal after his pocket got picked in Ichhra a few days ago. He said had he not chanced upon Quick Response Force officer at the Ichhra market, where he had gone shopping with his family, there was no telling how long it would have taken to find the police station. “It was in Shadman. A long walk from Ichhra market,” he said, “How hard is it to change the name of the station to match its current location?”
Arslan Butt said his motorcycle was hit by a rickshaw in Baghbanpura area some days ago. He said after arguing for some time over who was responsible for the accident, he and the rickshaw driver agreed on seek police’s assistance only to find out that there was no police station in the area. He said they asked several people but no one seemed to be aware of the relevant station’s location. The next day, Butt said, after he had settled the matter with the rickshaw driver he found out that Baghbanpura’s police station was located in Mughalpura.
Police officials concerned told The Tribune that they were aware of the problem but could not do much to solve it. One remedy, they suggested, could be to put up more sign boards in the area to lead people to the police station.
An official at Rang Mehal police station said most people who were not residents of the area found it difficult to locate the station. However, he said, nothing much could be done in this regard because shifting the police station to a building in Rang Mehal would require a significant amount of funds. He said changing the name to coincide with the location was not practical either as Mochi Gate police station was located on the same road and quite close by.Sub Inspector Asim of Sanda police station said they had put up a big banner on the building to guide people so that they should not mistake it for Gulshan-i-Ravi’s police station. This, he agreed, was of limited help to the people who had never before visited a police station.
The Ghalib Market police station was originally located in the market, said Azhar Ishaq, a former inspector at the police station. He said it had to be relocated to Main Market because the building was converted into Superintendent of Police’s office. He said more sign boards could be put up in the area to guide people.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2011.
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