Police stations only in name in some Maoist areas: Chidambaram

Police stations exist only in name in some districts most affected by left wing extremism, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

Police stations exist only in name in some districts most affected by left wing extremism, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

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"The distribution of force among police stations is badly skewed, there are not enough police stations. Even where there is a police station, the strength of the force is often no more than 20. In some of the districts most affected by left wing extremism, the police station exists only in name," the minister said in his inaugural speech in Raipur at the 40th All India Police Science Congress.

He said: "I do not wish to name the states or the police stations but, believe me, there are police stations where the station house has been blown up."

There are police stations, the minister added, where there are no more then eight men and even these men do not hold any weapons for fear of the weapons being looted.

"You will recall the case of Lalgarh police station in West Midnapore district in West Bengal. The police station was closed - and locked from the inside - for several months until the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 'liberated' it," Chidambaram observed in the presence of over 80 Indian Police Service officers from across the country as well as Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

The event, organised by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, New Delhi, in association with Chhattisgarh Police, will also discuss modernisation of police and use of data-management in the system.