Several vehicles procured by the Mumbai Police under the Nirbhaya fund, meant to be used for fighting crimes against women, are instead being used as escort vehicles for MPs and MLAs of the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction since July this year.
However, with all the 40 MLAs and 12 MPs of the Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena faction, which is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, being provided “Y-plus with escort” security, in July, 47 Boleros were urgently requisitioned from police stations by the Motor Transport (MT) department of the Mumbai Police following an order from the VIP Security Department. Of these 47 Boleros, 17 were returned and 30 are yet to be returned.
The recipient of a “Y-plus with escort” category security gets an escort vehicle and five policemen who are on duty round the clock.
A senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the new Boleros were distributed among various police units in June, soon after they were procured, filling a crucial vacuum in some police stations that had been grappling with a shortage of vehicles.
“The Boleros had mainly been sent to 95 police stations across the city. Depending upon the size and sensitivity of the jurisdiction, while some police stations got one Bolero, some were given two,” the officer said.
However, within days of the Boleros reaching the police stations, the police stations were asked to return their Boleros so that they could be used for the security of VIPs.
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Sources in the Motor Transport Department, which is responsible for arranging vehicles, said over 30 vehicles were “temporarily” withdrawn from police stations across the city after they were told to meet the requirement for VIP security.
“However, when the vehicles were not returned even after a few weeks, we started getting calls from police stations saying it was getting difficult for them to function. Then some of the vehicles were returned to the police stations though not all,” the source said.
IG (VIP Security) Krishna Prakash said they had not requisitioned the vehicles, only issued an order asking for resources to be provided for the security needs of legislators residing in their jurisdictions.
However, some of the police stations refused to give away their new Boleros. A senior inspector from a suburban police station said, ‘’Three of our six vehicles are with the Motor Transport Department for repairs. If we returned the Bolero as well, were we expected to patrol the city on foot? So I refused to return the Bolero. I believe it was the right decision since several police stations who sent back their Boleros haven’t got them even after six months.”
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A senior officer of the Mumbai Police said that while vehicles had been requisitioned from police stations to provide escort vehicles for MLAs, they were returned soon after the gap was filled.
However, The Sunday Express found that while the Navghar, Pant Nagar and MIDC police stations got back their vehicles after two to three months, several others, including Saki Naka, Deonar, Trombay, Bhandup and Mulund, from where one Bolero each was taken away, were yet to get their vehicles back. The Nehru Nagar and Shivaji Nagar police stations, each of which gave two of its Boleros, are still without them.
All these are sensitive police stations where patrolling is a crucial part of maintaining law and order and fighting crimes against women.
An officer from a suburban police station said, “Ever since our Bolero was taken away, we have been using vehicles from other police stations or even private vehicles to take the accused to court.”
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The source in the MT department said the Boleros that the police department bought in June were meant to plug a shortage of vehicles for police stations, and that this was the first purchase since 2019. “While the number of police stations have gone up over the years, a commensurate increase has not been made in acquiring police vehicles,” the official added.
Kiran Pawaskar, spokesperson of the Shinde faction said, “I am not sure about how many vehicles are being used for our MLAs. However, the Y-plus escort security is due to the threat perception faced by our MLAs on account of constant jibes like gaddar and khoka being made by the Thackeray faction.”
The Indian Express had earlier reported how the Maharashtra Police had gone in for a recruitment drive to meet the demand for security personnel for MLAs and MPs.
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