“Authority doesn’t work without prestige.....” The Telangana government seems to have realised now what the French General and Statesmen Charles de Gaulle did about three quarters of a century back.
It is apparently to add prestige to the job of a police officer and improve his functioning that the government has allocated new vehicles to Sub Inspectors in every police station in the State.
Conscientious officers working in the hilly and vast Adilabad district are too happy over the development as lack of vehicles in police station had deprived them of authority and prestige besides often resulting in piquant situations for them.
Take for instance the case of a former SI at Neredigonda police station who was trapped by the ACB when he allegedly demanded money from the owner of a jeep to release his vehicle ‘seized’ illegally by the officer. The jeep-owner had reportedly denied giving the vehicle free of charge to the SI to use for his official work.
Over the years, a custom was established in police stations functioning without vehicles that one local passenger jeep or auto had to be kept at the disposal of the officer everyday. The vehicles were allocated by turn but more damning was the fact that the owner had to arrange fuel also. For those SIs working in areas where only autos are a means of private transport there was no alternative but to use the auto. "Working from an auto somehow seems to lower the authority of a police officer," observed an officer working in a remote police station who was here to receive the new jeep allocated to his police station. “I used to feel ashamed whenever the auto driver requested me to ‘adjust’ a couple passengers,” recalled another officer from another remotely located police stations. "As it was a matter of his livelihood, I preferred to ignore even if passengers boarded the auto," he added. “All my service as Sub Inspector I was forced to move around on my bike. I never felt as if I could wield enough authority during situations whenever I reached a given place on a two wheeler,” stated an Inspector working in the tribal belt .
Lack of vehicle in police station besides hampering the functioning often results in piquant situations
