A dilapidated old building that leaks from the roof, wet walls, common toilets with broken windows for male and female staff are not only the problems the staff, attached to Vasco Railway police station, have been facing but the cops manning this station spend a lot of their time and energy contending an enemy of a different kind – mosquitoes.
Cops claim they have been doing their best with whatever resources provided to them. But severe mosquito menace in their workplace has made it difficult for them to sit at their tables every evening. Now they fear of getting affected by vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. However, no one seems to care about this menace.
“Our list of issues is long, but the main issue that has been troubling us more is these blood-sucking parasites. We have started burning mosquito coils and lighting fire in the evening, but still the mosquitoes are difficult to get rid of. They make it difficult for us to concentrate on our work, still we are doing our best with whatever resources are given to us,” said a police constable attached to the station.
Surprisingly the sheer drudgery faced by the staff and visitors at this police station, has completely derailed this once grand railway police station which was set up in year 1972. The police station has a footprint jurisdiction of the railway stations along the 82-km long railway route of the South Western Railway from Vasco to Dudhsagar. Still this police station has always been cramped for comfort.
The police station has a built-up area of 100 sq mts having all offices, resting area, kitchen, lockups, arms room under one small congested roof. Due to the congestion, the complaint desk operates from the corridors. And because of insufficient bed facilities in the barracks, policemen many a time use corridors or available free floor area to sleep. The toilet facilities are an eyesore but what more shocking is that the female staff has to use the common toilet used by male staff.
“We have 38 staff attached to this Vasco Railway Police Station out of which 7 staffers are deputed for unsanctioned duties while the rest available manpower have to manage the 82-km long railway line under south western railway. But in return we have zero facilities available. What is more disappointing is the fact that there exists only one toilet for male and female staff. So the ladies are mostly using nearby sulabh toilets as the existing toilet windows are also broken,” said another police constable attached to the station.
During the visit to this Police station, this correspondent noticed that though this facility has been accorded the status of police station, hardly any facilities are available here and hence this police station does not actually appear like a full-fledged police station.
There are no canteen facilities for the staff. So the policemen are forced to go all the way to the Vasco police station or to other local restaurants for their meals. Similarly there are no proper drinking water facilities and they have to carry their own water bottles while at work. Though there are four female staff deployed there are no proper barrack facilities for them and these females use Vasco police station barrack facilities. With regards to other facilities, the police station has a lock-up but the same is used as store room. There are two small rooms for males to rest, but the three beds don’t have mattresses making their rest uncomfortable.
“We have been operating with bare minimum facilities and the present police station is operated in a dilapidated building in congested premises. One of the stations lockups is used to store files while other lock up is used to store ammunition. Every new officer, who takes charge, first writes to the higher-ups about the issues faced by the staff and the lack of facilities or the need for new premises. But no one pays attention,” said a policeman on duty who also claimed that “we feel ashamed to call people inside and therefore many times we prefer to meet visitors outside.”
With machine guns in the lock up, no place for visitors and no proper resting place for cops, no clean toilets, and with the latest menace of mosquitoes hunting for policemen’s blood, this place is a complete mess and needs immediate attention from the state government.
