Over 41% of Nagaland’s police stations lack telephone connections: MHA data

March 17, 2023 26 Views No Comment

17 lack mobile phones, CCTV only in 28 PS

Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 17

Over 41% of Nagaland’s police stations lack telephone connections, informed data provided in the Parliament on March 14.

According to the data cited by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai in written reply in the Lok Sabha, 36 out of 86 police stations in Nagaland did not have designated telephone numbers as of January 1, 2022.

This figure is significantly higher than the all-India average, with only 3.58% or 628 of the country’s 17,535 police stations lacking telephone connections during the same period.

The MHA data, based on Bureau of Police Research and Development’s (BPRD) Data on Police Organisation 2022, also showed that 17 out of 86 police stations in Nagaland had no wireless or mobile connectivity, equating to 19.76% of the stations.

In comparison, the All-India average for police stations without wireless or mobiles was only 1.62% (285 out of 17,535 police stations).

Data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in the Lok Sabha on March 14 based on the Bureau of Police Research and Development’s Data on Police Organisation 2022.

Data showed that police stations in Nagaland were also lagging behind in terms of CCTV installation, with only 28 out of 86 stations (32.55%) equipped with such facilities.

However, all police stations in Nagaland were equipped with vehicles, while there were 63 stations across India that lacked them.

There 550 computers in 86 police stations across Nagaland.

Among the North-East states, Nagaland’s status was found to be relatively better than Manipur and Meghalaya, but below that of Assam, Tripura, and Sikkim. Arunachal Pradesh’s status was uncertain as data on three parameters were shown as “NA” (Not Available).

Overall, Tamil Nadu had the highest number of police stations at 2,292, followed by Uttar Pradesh (1,783) and Maharashtra (1,168), according to MHA data.

Modernisation of police
Meanwhile, MoS Rai further informed that while ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India, the Central Government supplements the efforts of the State Governments towards equipping and modernising their police forces, by providing financial assistance under the scheme of ‘Assistance to States and Union Territories (UTs) for Modernisation of Police (ASUMP),’ [erstwhile scheme of ‘Assistance to States for Modernisation of Police (ASMP)’].

However, the MoS’s data on ASUMP during the last three and current financial year informed that Nagaland did not receive any assistance for modernisation in 2020-21, though this seems to have been compensated with the release of Rs 17.03 crore in 2021-22 against allocation of Rs 10.74 crore. In 2022-23, Nagaland has been allocated Rs 2.74 crore, out of which Rs 0.68 crore has been released.

Regarding infrastructure like vehicles, communication devices, toilets, drinking water facilities and CCTV cameras, the States and UTs have been advised to take appropriate action time to time through various advisories, he said.

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) has been deployed in 16592 police stations across the country as on March 1, 2023, he added.

In another reply to a query on March 14, the MHA also informed that there were 745 women police stations in India as of January 1, 2022, out of which there were 11 in Nagaland.

The MHA has issued advisories from time to time to all the State Governments to increase the representation of women police to 33% of the total strength, however, as per the data by the BPRD, the actual strength of women police personnel was 11.75% at all-India level as on as on January 1, 2022, it added.