You might be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing the brightest electrical decoration for your house this Diwali. However, your friendly neighbourhood beat officer, who patrols your locality for eight hours everyday, isn’t lucky enough.
If he happens to be on duty this Wednesday, he will have no alternative than to watch wistfully from his usual haunt — the local police beat box, as six out of every 10 Delhi Police beat boxes don’t have an electricity connection.
“The beat box, which has evolved from the ‘police post’ system which we inherited from the British, is the primary unit of maintaining law and order in any residential or commercial area. But only 58% or 262 of these have electricity connections,” said a senior Delhi Police officer.
According to data available with the Delhi Police, around 368 of the total 630-odd beat boxes throughout its 10 districts, will be dark and gloomy.
While 22 of the 25 beat boxes in the VIP district of New Delhi don’t have electricity, the same is true for more than half the number of police posts in north, central and east Delhi.
“As per records, 57 of the 108 beat boxes in north district, 35 of the total 55 in central district and 33 of 56 in the east district are without power connections,” said the officer.
{{/usCountry}}“As per records, 57 of the 108 beat boxes in north district, 35 of the total 55 in central district and 33 of 56 in the east district are without power connections,” said the officer.
{{/usCountry}}The outer district, in fact, is the worst in this respect as none of the 61 beat boxes that fall under its jurisdiction have enough energy to light even a single bulb, while the north-west district has ensured that each of its 76 beat boxes have at least minimalist power sources.
“Most of these have been constructed by funds collected from residents or market associations,” the officer added.