GB Nagar police left to make do with old, battered vehicles

According to the Gautam Budh Nagar police commissionerate headquarters, at least 66 vehicles have become defunct and are awaiting to be replaced

Even though two months have passed since the Gautam Budh Nagar police wrote to the Noida and Greater Noida authorities to procure new vehicles for the police department, it is yet to get a response from the authorities, police said on Saturday.

GB Nagar police currently have 397 vehicles in its fleet. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

According to the Gautam Budh Nagar police commissionerate headquarters, at least 66 vehicles have become defunct and are awaiting to be replaced. These 66 vehicles were provided by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities to the police department during 2012-14, police said.

“Police personnel face various problems dealing with old vehicles, especially when we have to escort VIPs. While their ultra-modern vehicles run at a speed of 110-120 kilometers per hour (kmph), our police vehicles are unable to catch up, barely touching 80kmph. Gautam Budh Nagar district sees frequent visits by the Prime Minister and chief minister and it is an embarrassment for the department to have slow-moving vehicles,” said Rambadan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, (headquarters).

Police commissioner Alok Singh said, “The poor condition of the vehicles also pose a problem when it comes to patrolling. We have already written to the authorities for procuring new vehicles. Moreover, once the vehicles are more than 10 years old, we cannot use them anymore in accordance with National Green Tribunal (NGT) rules in the National Capital Region (NCR)”.

In August this year, the police department had written to both the authorities in Noida and Greater Noida, requesting them to replace the existing vehicles provided by them over nine years ago with new ones. The Greater Noida authority had provided the police department with 28 vehicles between 2013 and 14, of which 19 were Maruti Gypsies and nine were Mahindra Boleros.

The Noida authority had provided them with 43 vehicles of which 23 were Toyota Innovas and 20 were Maruti Gypsies. Five of them were taken off road in 2020, while the remaining vehicles which are in a poor shape are still being used by the police department.

“After completing the prescribed mileage, being off roads due to wear and tear, due to excessive expenditure on their repair and due to not being operated in the interest of the state, these vehicles should be taken back by the authorities and we request them to provide new vehicles to the Gautam Budh Nagar commissionerate,” the letter said. It was addressed to the chief executive officers (CEOs) of both the Noida and Greater Noida authorities.

DCP Singh said that the police department is yet to get a response from the authorities.

However, both the authorities said that they are not aware of the police department letter.

Noida authority additional CEO Manvendra Singh said, “We are not aware of any such letter. However, we will check and see what can be done”.

Amandeep Duli, the additional CEO of the Greater Noida authority said, “I am not aware of such a request by the police department. Moreover, the authority does not provide vehicles to the police department. We only provide vehicles to the district administration in emergency cases”.

According to official data, the Gautam Budh Nagar police department currently has a total of 397 vehicles, including 64 Dial 112 police response vehicles.

Police commissioner Alok Singh added that the department is mulling the idea of acquiring electric vehicles. “We are currently in talks with other departments to acquire some electric vehicles for the police department as well, though nothing has been finalised yet”, he added.