Mounted police drive fails; horses up for sale, sent to MPA

Mumbai: It was almost a blink-and-you-miss-it enterprise, as few Mumbaikars had the opportunity to witness the mounted police patrolling on Juhu beach’s chowpatty or attempting to control crowds during Ganeshotsav last month

Mumbai: It was almost a blink-and-you-miss-it enterprise, as few Mumbaikars had the opportunity to witness the mounted police patrolling on Juhu beach’s chowpatty or attempting to control crowds during Ganeshotsav last month.

Mounted police drive fails; horses up for sale, sent to MPA

Three years after the state government announced that the Mumbai police force would resume the archaic tradition of using mounted police to control traffic and crowd, eight surviving horses – of the 13 acquired by the home department -- will soon bid adieu to Mumbai, without being put to good use.

Four of the herd will be sent to the Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA) in Nashik next week and the remaining horses will be given or sold to children’s training academies.

The Director General of Police (Maharashtra) has passed an order to this effect, as their basic need, such as adequate and regular exercise, was not being met in Mumbai.

Police officers maintaining the five Indian and three hybrid horses said the animals were suffering from indigestion in the absence of any activity in Mumbai. It was making them prone to fatal diseases like Colic. “At MPA there is facility for their stay and exercise,” said a senior police officer.

In 2018 a proposal was sent by then police commissioner Subodh Kumar Jaiswal to the home minister about acquiring 30 horses and setting up a mounted unit, after a gap of around 80 years.

“His vision was to use these mounted police units for crowd control during festivals and marches, at beaches as the rider can keep watch from a good height. Besides, a policeman on horseback was equal to 30 personnel on the ground,” said the police officer.

The proposal was cleared in 2019 by the home department and the Mumbai police force acquired 13 horses – six Indian horses were given by the Reliance Foundation and seven bought from the stables at the Mahalakshmi Race Course for ₹50,000 each. The horses are between 12 and 15 years of age (their life span is 20-22 years.)

Of these, one Indian and four hybrid horses died after suffering from Colic disease over the last two years. “Once a horse gets Colic, medicines do not help. Although Indian horses are more likely to survive, the hybrid ones die, if they are diagnosed with the disease,” said the police officer.

Since their purchase, the horses have been kept at a makeshift stable at Marol police ground, and seldom brought out for patrolling. “Each horse requires three people to take care of it -- a cleaner, trainer, who also massages the animal, and a rider. Also, around ₹35,000 is required for the upkeep of each, every month, most of it spent on diet and medicines,” the officer added.

The horses cannot run on concrete roads, a few hours of running every day in the three-acre ground at the Marol police quarters is their only exercise at present.