The lone all-woman police station in Pauri district remains without an in-charge inspector, leading to problems in its day-to-day functioning. Besides, staff crunch in the police department is also a cause of worry for the people, with crime increasing here at an alarming rate.
The all-woman police station came up in Srinagar (Garhwal) in the district, but following the transfer of the inspector from Srinagar to Dehradun, the post remains vacant. Things are such that Pauri superintendent of police Ajai Joshi while recently reshuffling police station officers appointed Srinagar police kotwali, Khajan Singh Chauhan, as the in-charge of the all- woman police station Srinagar.
The people of the region have vented anger over the fact that the focus of those running Uttarakhand police headquarters is riveted on the state capital Dehradun alone with other regions featuring nowhere in its scheme of things. “Police personnel are being transferred at random from the mountainous districts of Garhwal region to Dehradun and Haridwar.
Such transfers have recently occurred involving police personal and staffers of the local Intelligence unit. However, no replacement has been done to keep things going. It seems the police top brass is not concerned at all about the security of the hill district. This is a height of callousness with crimes remaining on a spiral here,” said a worried resident of Srinagar.
Another resident said that these districts can hardly be written off with the route of the much-hyped Char Dham Yatra crisscrossing these districts. “Things are similarly sluggish as far as verification of the migrants is concerned. Perhaps some major crimes occurring here would arouse them of their somnolence,” he said.
For Pauri Garhwal district, there are 11 police stations, out of which four are police kotwalis. These are based in Pauri, Srinagar, lansdowne and Kotdwar. Only one officer of the rank of Inspector is posted in Kotwali. There are shortage of inspectors, sub- inspectors and constables in the district. In addition, as far as local intelligence unit based in Pauri is concerned three out nine staffs are working in the sanctioned posts. The rest are vacant.