The Newz Radar
SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh police department has given mobile phones to its field staff, but the prepaid connections are not being recharged due to dearth of funds. As a result, the officials deployed in the field have to manage their work somehow by recharging these phones by spending from their own pocket. This situation has been prevailing in Shimla and other districts for some time now.
Due to the fear of indiscipline, these officials refrain from speaking on the issue in the open. However, questions are being raised discreetly as to when the department could spend on purchasing phones for them, why recharging these phones numbers had become tough.
Two categories of phones have been allocated to field officials within the police department. While the traffic wing has furnished mobile phones to all districts, several Superintendents of Police (SPs) in various districts have independently procured phones for their respective police stations and outpost in-charges. However, the SPs are facing hurdles in maintaining operational continuity due to budgetary constraints. Consequently, numerous devices have fallen silent. Previously, funds from fines issued under the COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) were utilised for recharge. However, with smoking in public spaces largely prohibited in Himachal, revenue from fines has dwindled, leaving SPs without the funds.
About 450 mobile phones provided by the traffic wing for online challans remain underutilised. Despite the intention for these phones to exclusively facilitate traffic-related tasks, these are primarily utilised for general duties. The traffic wing aims to restrict their usage solely to issuing challans and has halted recharging until compliance is ensured.
Additional SP (tourism, traffic and railways) Narveer Singh Rathore said that efforts were underway to enforce the designated use of mobile phones for traffic-related functions. However, until this transition was complete, the SPs had been told to recharge the phones and submit reimbursement requests to the department.
