Police Budget: Tears for the dead, raises for the living

Instead of compensation, police want to create conditions in which their men don’t die.

KARACHI:

After doling out millions of rupees to grieving widows, the police force has decided that it would be better to equip its men properly than pay compensation for policemen who die in the line of duty.

The reasoning is simple. Instead of giving the families of policemen killed in the line of duty Rs2 million, we need to create the conditions in which they don’t die, Additional Inspector General of Police, Finance, Dost Ali Baloch told The Express Tribune. This means better equipment - bullet-proof jackets, forensics - so they can keep themselves safer. “We are working with equipment that isn’t fit to be used,” he said. Many of them have been running for 20 years and are beyond repair.

The Sindh police have, therefore, asked for a 10 per cent higher budget for the next financial year and are waiting to see what the authorities announce.

Usually, Sindh gives the police 8 per cent of its budget. “We expect Rs39 billion for the fiscal year 2011-2012,” he said. “We’ve done our homework. Now we have to see if the government approves the budget according to what we need.”

Meanwhile, authorities planned to focus more and more on operating expenses, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday. The provincial government had allocated Rs29.6 billion for the Sindh police for the fiscal year 2010-2011 and Rs500 million for the development component which, in the interior ministry, is known as the ‘Pink Book’.

They need more money because 85 per cent of its budget is spent on salaries with the rest going on operating or day-to-day expenses such as utilities, fuel, vehicles, repairs, equipment, rewards, stationery, food.

Even though the force has come under fire for being too understaffed for a city of 20 million people, especially in Karachi, there are no plans to recruit more. “We need to fix the existing force instead of taking on more,” Dost Ali Baloch said. Financially they can’t take on more people.

He had earlier told the Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on the Home Department that the police budget has been squeezed over the years, leaving only a meagre amount for development and renovation. It used to be 10 per cent.

Last year’s budget was good enough but then unexpected happenings, such as the flood, changed the bank balance. The department had to give up on some development projects. “Otherwise, things were fairly good,” he said.

Dost Baloch clarified that preparing the budget was a long process and he was not the only official who was engaged. SPs submitted their requirements. “It’s easy to talk about but it takes us months to discuss this,” he said. “We talk about each and every thing. Like, why did so and so SP ask for a car or so and so SP ask for more men.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2011.