13,000 homes for 90,000 cops: Why Delhi Police personnel live on rent in the capital city

Earlier this month, around 50 families of Delhi Police officers living in the colony were asked to fill out a form. They are to be shifted to a different accommodation soon, either to Dwarka Sector 16 or Dabri — a move not many are happy with.

Family members of a police officer said they have been living in the colony for around eight years. “We were made to fill out forms on April 2… We have been told to either move to Dabri or Sector 16. We were told the structure of the building is dangerous and that the pillars don’t support it,” said the officer’s wife.

For those with children in school, the decision has dealt a heavy blow.

The woman, who has a child in middle school, said, “They say we will return after a year. I don’t plan on changing my child’s school, but some parents are anxious since it will be a major shift.”

The building in disrepair (Express/Renuka Puri)

Constructed in 2016, officers said, the Dwarka building was declared dangerous in July 2024 after IIT-Delhi carried out checks to assess its structural stability.

When The Indian Express visited the police colony, it found iron rods erected to support the existing pillars. In one particular section, more than 20 such rods have been clamped to wooden blocks to support the building. The paint has chipped off, and chunks of plaster seem to have fallen off from a few balconies, exposing the rods and cement below.

This is not the only police colony that is dangerous or in a dilapidated state. The police colony in Model Town — which earlier housed the office of the Police Control Room (PCR) — and two blocks (D and H) in the New Police Lines also require repair work, officials said.

The Model Town building was declared dangerous by the Public Works Department (PWD). However, an assessment concerning structural stability is underway.

A structural analysis of the New Police Lines buildings will be conducted soon, officials said.

While there are 16,420 houses across 160 police colonies, only around 13,000 are in a liveable condition — for a police force numbering around 89,000.

With no good homes on the market, several police personnel hailing from neighbouring states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, travel from their hometowns for work each day — some by choice and others due to a lack of accommodation.

One such policeman, a head constable, travels from Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur, roughly 60-70 km away from Delhi.

“I work in the eastern belt and live in a joint family. If I lived in Delhi, the rent would be higher for a flat in a decent locality that can accommodate my family. If I have to stay near my area of work, then I need to live alone and manage everything by myself. So, I would rather travel two hours than live without my family,” he said.

Another officer, a security staffer with a minister who also travels from western Uttar Pradesh, said the only good thing about his job is that he has to be on duty for 24 hours and can then rest for a day. “This allows me ample time to rest. But yes, if given a chance, I would like to bring my family here. Everyone wants their children to go to good schools and experience city life. The issue with rented accommodation is the price, area, and no guarantee that one can live in that house for a long time.”

He added that if there is permanent accommodation, then one is fully aware that they will not have to change schools for their children.

While inaugurating the New Police Headquarters on Jai Singh Road in October 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah had, in his speech, emphasised on improving the housing satisfaction ratio, which, he claimed, was below 20% back then.

As per officers, the ratio currently is 17-19% for ranks of inspectors and below and 25-30% for the ranks of ACP and above

Projects in limbo

Several redevelopment police housing projects are in the works, the major one being the Dheerpur complex in Northwest Delhi, but they have been pending for years now. (see box)

Delhi Police housing land opposite Majlis Park Metro station (Express/Praveen Khanna)

The Dheerpur project envisages the construction of 5,202 houses — including Type II, III, IV units — on a 60-acre plot along with associated infrastructure such as schools, community facilities, a banquet hall, an anganwadi, and a dispensary.

Work on the Rs 790.58-crore project started in 2011. Police said five parties had participated in the tender. After L1 clearance, a special purpose vehicle was formed by a firm; a concessionaire agreement was signed between the Delhi Police and the firm on April 9. Another company was appointed as the independent engineer through an open tender.

The project was proposed to be completed in 885 days from the date of signing of the agreement — it has yet to take off as the firm that bagged the tender went bankrupt.

The police have floated another tender, and the project is likely to begin by the end of this year.

“Obviously, owing to space constraints and other factors, houses will never be available for the entire force, but we are working on improving the [housing satisfaction] ratio by 20:30. The Dheerpur project would solve a lot of our problems because of its location and the number of houses that will be built there,” an officer said.

On issues and problems plaguing at least eight redevelopment projects, the officer said, “For redevelopment, the colony has to be vacated and residents have to be provided alternate accommodation. Thereafter, a construction agency has to be engaged to get an estimated budget for construction. This has to be sent to the competent authority for administrative approval and expenditure sanction.”

Asked for the reason behind a low housing satisfaction ratio, a senior officer said, “A large number of police officers come from adjoining areas of Delhi and the city. They want to live in a particular area in private houses due to the proximity of schools for their children, family support, or to take care of their parents.”

Among other central agencies, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is responsible for the formal allotment of land. Sources said senior police officers have written to the Union ministry several times, but the process seems to be held up. There was no response from the MoHUA.

Garima Bhatnagar, Special CP (Provisioning and Finance Division), said, “The Delhi Police is an old institution. Most of the houses, which came up in the 1950s and 1960s, need redevelopment… To come up with 35-40% more housing by 2030, eight redevelopment projects were taken up by Delhi Police under the Uniform Modernisation Scheme between 2021-22 and 2025-26. The Dheerpur project was also taken up, but it could not be completed due to issues with the builder. All the projects are now in various stages of getting approval. We are diligently following up.”

“However, due to multiple approvals and the procedures that need to be followed, the implementation has been impacted… Further, a large number personnel, especially from NCR, due to personal reasons, prefer to avail HRA and commute to their workplace rather than stay away from family.”

“As part of our current projects, we hope to provide up to 20,000 to 21000 housing units to our men,” she added.