Women constables at Gorakhpur’s 26th Battalion PAC Centre on Wednesday staged a protest over lack of privacy and poor water and electricity arrangements.
The group of women, who are fresh recruits and started their training a couple of days back, said they were forced to “bathe in the open”, The Indian Express reported.
Some recruits also raised allegations regarding the presence of CCTV cameras in bathroom corridors, which they said breached their privacy, news agency PTI reported.
Contesting the claims of the constables, Commandant Ashok Kumar said, “It’s not that they are bathing in the open. They are unwilling to bathe together, so I have decided to install partitions in the washrooms to ensure privacy.”
The women constable recruits “raised concerns” on these issues, following which senior officials arrived at the camp and initiated an inquiry into the matter, PAC Inspector General Dr Preetinder Singh said.
The recruits are being persuaded to return to their rooms, Commandant Ashok Kumar said, according to The Indian Express. He added that the women constables had taken their meals, and the protest is continuing.
Shortage of water, power cuts at training camp
Commandant Kumar said that there had been frequent power cuts at the camp on Tuesday night leading to a disrupted generator supply.
{{/usCountry}}Commandant Kumar said that there had been frequent power cuts at the camp on Tuesday night leading to a disrupted generator supply.
{{/usCountry}}This impacted sleep and resulted in several constables missing the morning parade, following which they started their protest.
While citing the larger size of the constable recruits than usual, Kumar said there was a shortage of water at the camp too.
The recruits have complained about shortage of drinking water, electricity issues, and the lack of privacy without private bathing spaces, The Indian Express reported.
“If there were no proper arrangements, why were we called here?” a woman constable can be heard asking in a video circulating on social media. Others have also questioned the higher than usual recruits at the camp this year.
District admin, local police coordinating to resolve issue
The Gorakhpur district administration, local police and the electricity department are coordinating with the Battalion, The Indian Express report said.
Following the protests, the police department has made the decision to improve the water storage facility and deploy a high-capacity generator on the camp.
Speaking about the water shortage, Kumar said that inquiry had found it was a “temporary disruption” due to a technical fault. He added that this had also affected the water supply, and said that the electricity issue was “resolved promptly after discussions".