Amid the spate of criminal incidents in Patna, there lies one police station where not a single FIR has been registered in the past one year.
The first-of-its-kind river police station at Maujipur village in Fatuha, around 20km from the state capital, which was launched with much fanfare by chief minister Nitish Kumar on May 20 last year, has become a comfortable place for the policemen posted there.
The cops, however, felt otherwise.
“You cannot call this a happy affair. In fact, it is quite boring. Since the police station was opened, not a single FIR has been lodged here. It has been over a year and we still do not know our exact jurisdiction,” a police officer at the station told The Telegraph requesting anonymity.
Built at a cost of Rs 56 lakh by the Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation (BPBCC) the police station is spread over about 6,000sqft on the southern bank of the Ganges and consists of one inspection room, a separate room for the station house officer besides barracks and a mess. In addition, the police station has 45 armed police personnel, including sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors, constables and other technical staff like driver, wireless operator and cleaner.
The state government has spent over Rs 35 lakh for payment of salaries and other maintenance work of the police station, but to no avail. With hardly any power, the policemen have been able to do little more than conducting patrols.
“The objective behind setting up the police station was to control the criminal incidents in the Diara areas of the Ganges. We go on patrols, but the situation is quite tricky. The policemen should at least know the exact nature of their job. Yaha vaha ghoomne se kya hoga? (What is the point in moving here and there?),” another police officer said.
“Though I don’t have much information about the notification, the complaints coming down to the river police station are redirected to the other police stations like Fatuha or Didarganj based on the area from which the complaints come,” deputy superintendent of police (Fatuha) Sunita Kumari said.
