Police say no to UAVs as govt sanctions one for traffic dept

Sources revealed that on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik,a letter was sent by the Mumbai Police to the Deputy Inspector-General (Provisions) Ashok Dongre four days ago,rejecting the UAV that was sanctioned for the city and citing reasons for the decision.

“A proposal had been sent last year by the Mumbai Police for UAVs and in this year’s budget a UAV costing around Rs 1 crore was sanctioned for surveillance of traffic in the city. However,in the letter sent to the state police headquarters,the Mumbai Police said it does not want the UAV since it does not,at this stage,have the capability to maintain and operate it,” said a senior Mumbai Police officer,who did not wish to be named.

“There are issues such as a lack of training necessary to operate the UAV and therefore concerns of crashes in the city that could be disastrous. The CP is of the view that it is not necessary to procure such ‘exotic items’ for the police arsenal as they will not be put to proper use and be neglected. Instead,he wants the focus to return to core policing issues that affect citizens on a daily basis,” said the officer.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Rajkumar Vhatkar said,“A letter has been sent to a DIG-rank officer at the state police headquarters a few days ago,citing some important reasons why it is not feasible to take the UAV at present.”

Newsline had earlier reported that in the first such review of procurements made by the Mumbai Police since its post-26/11 capacity-building drive,Patnaik was conducting a close inspection of the police force’s arsenal,suspecting that some weaponry and vehicles have been gathering dust since they were bought.

In a Government Resolution issued on February 14,the state government had listed 24 UAVs among its anti-terror procurements for the city police such as sophisticated assault rifles,bullet-proof jackets,portable X-ray baggage scanners,bomb detection and disposal equipment and new vehicles. The procurements are being made through joint funding by the state and Centre.