1/3rd of police stations in Delhi do not have their own building: Data
Delhi faces issues with multiple police stations operating out of the same building, causing confusion and hindering police work. MHA approves infrastructure boost to address the problem.
Rajan Kumar, 45, a resident of Vasant Kunj, lost his mobile phone on January 3. The following day, he went to his local police station to lodge a complaint, but was told that he had come to the Vasant Kunj (North) police station, and should have gone to the Vasant Kunj (South) police station instead.
The snag? Both the Vasant Kunj (North) and Vasant Kunj (South) police stations operate from the same building.
On June 19, Delhi got its 226th police station at the Bijwasan railway station. However, official data has revealed that more than a third — 79 — police stations in the Capital do not have their own building. Of these, 26 police stations in the city operate out of the building of another, 22 are in temporary structures, 18 are in the structures of old police posts (chowki), while the remaining 13 operate from buildings that the police have taken on rent.
These twinned police stations often cause multiple issues for the people, who often get caught between the administration of two different units.
Keshar Kumar, 26, a student living in Laxmi Nagar, said when he lost his wallet, he had to go to the Shakarpur police stations — which also doubles up as the Laxmi Nagar police station — to get a complaint filed, so that he could apply for a fresh PAN and Aadhaar card.
“Not only that, I also faced a lot of problems in convincing the staff of the passport office, when I mentioned ‘Laxmi Nagar police station, operating from Shakarpur police station’ as my nearest police station,” he said.
These duplicate police stations can also cause problems in police work, a senior officer said.
“It hampers the secrecy of a probe as complainants often interact with the officers of the original police station, rather than the police station of the jurisdiction. In addition, the staff of the original police station have the first right to the infrastructure. This demoralises the personnel of the second police station operating from the same building,” the officer said, on condition of anonymity.
Hunting for suitable land
The officer quoted above said the problem of twinned police stations arises because the authorities often create police stations before the proper infrastructure in that particular jurisdiction is in place.
“Police have to follow certain regulations before acquiring land for police stations. We can’t force anyone to sell land for police stations. Similarly, we can’t make police stations in reserved areas such as forest land or floodplains. Even if we procure private land to build a police station, we have to float an open tender. As land rates can vary according to the lane, we end up having to justify purchasing land at higher rates, rather than agreeing to the cheapest quote on land that may not be suitable to build a police station,” the officer said.
These are not the only issues that the police face while setting up a new police station. Giving an example, the officer said that when the police were looking for land to construct a building for the Nihal Vihar police station in outer Delhi, two people approached them with their land documents.
“But they were unaware that their plots did not fall in the jurisdiction of the Nihal Vihar police station. Land documents are based on revenue districts, while police stations are in police districts,” the officer said.
However, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) in March approved a major infrastructure boost for Delhi Police after the force in December 2023 made a request for new buildings.
“At least 15 police stations and 12 police posts, which are presently operating from old buildings or rented structures, will soon get new structures. In addition, 66 new buildings, including a dedicated headquarters for the Delhi Police anti-terror unit and several new housing complexes, will be constructed as part of an infrastructure revamp,” said a senior MHA official, asking not to be named.
To end the issue of twinned police stations, or police stations operating out of rented buildings, MHA has also given its nod for Delhi Police to procure 77 new plots of land, a process which will be completed by 2026, the official said.
