Govt slammed over police housing
The state government on Tuesday came under severe criticism from its own legislators for its lackadaisical approach towards police housing. Even deputy chairman of the Legislative Council Vasant Davkhare did not mince his words and said that the government appeared to be absolutely disinterested in providing accommodation to policemen.
Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt had raised the issue of poor housing facilities for policemen through a calling attention motion. Mr Dutt said that the Legislative Council has discussed the issue of police housing six times since April 2010. “The deputy chairman had even issued directives to the government. However, there has been no improvement in the conditions of police housing colonies,” he said.
Mr Dutt also demanded that the state consider providing houses for policemen on the lines of mill workers.
Speaking on behalf of the government, minister of state for home Satej Patil said that there are 86,400 quarters available for policemen in the state, out of which 21,275 are in Mumbai. The minister further said that the government had decided in 2009 to redevelop police colonies through public-private par-tnership. However, since there was poor response from private developers, the government has now decided to redevelop these colonies on its own or through Mhada. The minister also said that the government spends `100 crore every year on repairs of police colonies.
However, even Mr Davkhare was not satisfied with the response. He said that he had personally taken up the issue at
least 10 times, but there had been no change in the situation. “The government’s stand on the issue is negative. The government is not interested in the issue,” the deputy chairman observed.
He further said that he would call a meeting with the home minister and legislators to discuss the issue before the end of
the ongoing Assembly session.
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