Supply of fuel to police vans stopped for a month

Sindh government and police authorities had since day one been claiming that they attained best results from ongoing targeted operation against criminals and terrorists in Karachi. In this regard, Rs 8 billion were sanctioned for procuring armoured personnel carriers (APCs) bulletproof vests and helmets. Sindh government had also inducted 700 retired army personnel as cops while special new sections were created in Sindh Police, especially the Rapid Response police force.
However, such tall claims could be judged from the ground realities, the police culture at police stations, 'efforts' of police and special force on motorcycles for minting money from bikers, traders, fruit and vegetable vendors. The efficiency of police could also be judged through provisioning fuel for police cars required for patrolling purposes. The shocking situation was that provisioning of fuel (diesel) for Sindh police vans had not been available since June 26.
A police officer on condition of anonymity told this scribe that only 2 litres of diesel was provided to police and the authorities wanted to see police vans on patrol round-the-clock, which expenses were met through 'Special Police Action, on streets on the pretext of snap checking. Bikers were an easy target for meeting daily expenses. He said that a minimum of 22 litres of diesel was needed to keep police cars on wheels round-the-clock, which cost Rs 2,200 per 24 hours.
Hundreds of police vans needed that quantity of 22 litres of diesel per 24 hours and they were the bikers and citizens of Karachi, who were forced to pay that huge sum of money so that police might be at work. Meanwhile, another cop on condition of anonymity told this scribe that cops injured in police encounters with hardened criminals were admitted at a local hospital and police authorities had fixed a sum of Rs 25,000 as medical budget of the injured cop. After the budget was spent, a Deputy Inspector General ranked officer had to approve another tranche so that the hospital could continue to provide medicines and other facilities to injured cops admitted at hospital. In many cases, hospital management had stopped provisioning the medicine and other facilities till a second approval in the form of a letter duly signed by the DIG concerned reached the management.