Misplaced priorities? Police grappling with acute shortage of basic materials

DIG Ashraf says stationery provided in accordance with department’s resources

While senior police officials pledge colossal amounts to initiate a series of new projects with each passing day on one end, police stations across the city have been grappling with an acute shortage of basic materials including stationery items on the other, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Usman, a student, told The Express Tribune that his bike had been recently lifted from his residence. He said when he approached the Shahdara police station to file a complaint a clerk (muharrir) told him that the station was out of paper. Usman said the clerk had asked him to go to a bazaar and fetch two registers to have his complaint registered.

Intezar, a domestic worker, said he had lodged a robbery FIR at the Lohari Gate police station. He said a clerk had asked him to get a dozen photocopies of his FIR when he asked him for a copy of his complaint.



Arshad, a clerk, said each police station was provided a ream of papers and four pencils by the department per month. He said an average of four to five reams of paper and 10 to 15 pencils were used at every police station per moth. He said clerks posted at police stations had to devise ways of overcoming the resultant discrepancy.

Rafaqat, another clerk, said the supply of stationery tended to be erratic. He said sometimes stationery was provided by the department and sometimes they were left to their own devices on this account. Rafaqat said there was a great discrepancy between the amount of stationery needed and provided.

Yousaf, a deputy clerk, said the stationery provided was limited to papers and pencils. He said the department did not ensure the provision of basic items such as staplers, paper-pins and carbon paper at police stations. Yousaf said the amount of registers supplied also tended to often prove inadequate. He said clerks had to make up for the shortfall themselves. Yousaf said sometimes they were compelled to get the blank pages of registers photocopied to overcome the problem.

Amir, another deputy clerk, said clerks needed at least 10 photocopies of every FIR. He said the photocopies were forwarded to various offices. Amir said there was no budgetary provision for this, an expense they often had to bear themselves.

Operations DIG Haider Ashraf told The Express Tribune that stationery was provided to every police station in accordance with the resources at the disposal of the department. Ashraf said he was cognisant of the issue. He said work on formulating a Rs10,000 monthly budget for  each police station had started. Ashraf said the initiative had been taken to finance routine administrative expenses incurred at the police stations. He said photocopying machines had been installed recently at the Iqbal Town and Model Town police stations. Ashraf said police officials could get documents photocopied there for free.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th,  2015.