River police grounded for lack of funds
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Police in Bangladesh's river and haor areas once had speedboats. But these days the law enforcers are all but grounded in their efforts to chase criminals operating on the water as the police force is unable to maintain the expensive speedboats or even to purchase unwieldy but less costly trawlers to replace the faster vessels, reports bdnews24.com.
The lack of adequate water- going vessels is also obstructing communications between police stations and regular police work in water-enclosed areas.
"We had speedboats in water areas in the past but almost all of them have been worn out," Mahbub Alam, assistant inspector general of police, told the news agency Friday.
Now, police are forced to work with old rented trawlers in these areas, Alam also said.
The trawlers available for rent are not ideal, being unwieldy and often posing a safety hazard. Just earlier in the week, a police officer drowned in the river Jamuna while pursuing drug dealers. His body was missing till Saturday.
The police department, desperate for water-going vessels of any sort, submitted a proposal to the government last year to purchase new trawlers instead of the more costly speedboats.
A new speedboat costs around Tk 4.0 million, while a good trawler costs from Tk 400,000 to 600,000. The fuel cost is also much less for trawlers, police officials point out.
Although an allocation of Tk 20 million was given to buy the vessels in the last fiscal year, it has remained unutilised due to inaction of the home ministry, say police officials.
"We are in doubt whether the allocation will be put to use this year either," said a senior police officer not wishing to be named.
The proposal, submitted last year, was initially returned saying that it was not a priority. It was submitted again and the fund was eventually approved, inspector general of police Noor Mohammad told.
The lack of adequate water- going vessels is also obstructing communications between police stations and regular police work in water-enclosed areas.
"We had speedboats in water areas in the past but almost all of them have been worn out," Mahbub Alam, assistant inspector general of police, told the news agency Friday.
Now, police are forced to work with old rented trawlers in these areas, Alam also said.
The trawlers available for rent are not ideal, being unwieldy and often posing a safety hazard. Just earlier in the week, a police officer drowned in the river Jamuna while pursuing drug dealers. His body was missing till Saturday.
The police department, desperate for water-going vessels of any sort, submitted a proposal to the government last year to purchase new trawlers instead of the more costly speedboats.
A new speedboat costs around Tk 4.0 million, while a good trawler costs from Tk 400,000 to 600,000. The fuel cost is also much less for trawlers, police officials point out.
Although an allocation of Tk 20 million was given to buy the vessels in the last fiscal year, it has remained unutilised due to inaction of the home ministry, say police officials.
"We are in doubt whether the allocation will be put to use this year either," said a senior police officer not wishing to be named.
The proposal, submitted last year, was initially returned saying that it was not a priority. It was submitted again and the fund was eventually approved, inspector general of police Noor Mohammad told.