50

Some facts and figures

Facts speak louder than words. The following tables indicate the present strength of the police and the resources made available to it to meet the needs of the entire province. The figures speak eloquently about the lack of even the basic requirements. Those who expect our police to be like that of the Western countries may keep in mind that the Punjab is bigger than every country of Europe, except Russia, and can even rank in the top 25 countries of the world in population. Then they can compare the strength and resources available to the Punjab police with theirs.
The following are the subjects of the tables:
· The strength of the Punjab police
· The distribution of the police strength
· The buildings for police stations
· The allocations to the police in non-development budgets
· The allocations to the police in development budgets
· The distribution of police budget for 1994-95
· The allocations to the police for durable goods
· The present position of police transport
· The present position of wireless sets
· The requirement of wireless sets
· The police encounters, 1986 to June 1993

TABLE ONE: THE STRENGTH OF THE PUNJAB POLICE IN 1994
DESIGNATIONS NUMBER
Inspector General of Police 1
Additional Inspectors General of Police 2
Deputy Inspectors General of Police 19
AIGs and SPs 134
ASPs and DSPs 451
Inspectors 1,701
Sub Inspectors 3,606
Assistant Sub Inspectors 6,627
Constables Head 9,893
Constables 65,665
The territorial jurisdiction in the province is divided into 8 Ranges (Divisions), 34 districts and 142 subdivisions, headed respectively by DIGs, SSPs/SPs, and ASPs/DSPs.
The number of police stations is 592 (390 rural, 232 urban).
The number of police posts is 190 (115 rural, 75 urban).
With the total estimated population of the Punjab being 66,989,000 (44,070,000 rural, 22,914,000 urban), the ratio of police to population in the province comes to approximately one constable per 1020 persons. With total area being 205,345 sq. kms, the police to area ratio comes to one constable for over three square kilometers.

TABLE TWO: THE DISTRIBUTION OF POLICE STRENGTH
BRANCHES NUMBER PERCENT
Police stations 29,203 29,203
Punjab Constabulary 11,763 13.35
District and Range Reserves 4,246 4.82
Police offices 3,985 4.52
Traffic Branch 3,471 3.94
Prosecution Branch 2,050 2.33
Crime Branch & District CIAs 2,437 2.77
Special Branch 1,899 2.16
Telecom. and Transport 4,989 5.66
Guards 11,447 15.26
Escorts for prisoners 1,994 2.26
Training institutions 1,443 1.64
Lady police 603 0.69
Miscellaneous 8,569 9.72
The strength in the police stations is for investigation of cases as well as watch and ward duties.
Miscellaneous includes orderlies, line staff, tear gas squad, drill staff, leave reserves, etc.

TABLE THREE: THE BUILDINGS FOR POLICE STATIONS
BUILDINGS NUMBER
Police stations in proper buildings 188
Police stations in buildings unsuitable for use 250
Police stations in rented buildings, shops, tents, etc. 135
Buildings under construction in 1994 19
Total buildings needed to be built (rural: 292, urban: 93) 385
Building for police stations built since 1947 48

While the population increased over three times since Independence, the number of police stations was not even doubled. The number of police stations rose from 302 in 1947 to 592 in 1994, an addition of 290 only.

TABLE FOUR: THE ALLOCATIONS TO THE POLICE IN PUNJAB
IN NON-DEVELOPMENT BUDGETS
(Amounts in million rupees)
YEAR PUNJAB POLICE PERCENT
1947-48 200.7 24.71 1.00
1951-52 2,278.7 30.4 1.34
1961-62 4,437.2 82.8 1.87
1966-67 4,077.0 127.7 3.10
1971-72 3,457.9 71.9 2.08
1972-73 4,088.5 87.8 2.15
1973-74 6,077.9 93.8 1.54
1974-75 8,265.4 131.9 1.60
1976-77 13,036.0 273.1 2.09
1977-78 15,383.9 298.6 1.94
1978-79 13,076.0 312.9 2.39
1979-80 13,895.1 310.0 2.23
1980-81 14,766.6 378.8 2.56
1981-82 12,189.2 431.6 3.05
1982-83 21,228.7 497.9 2.35
1983-84 24,012.9 619.0 2.58
1984-85 21,848.0 842.1 3.85
1985-86 25,679.1 994.5 3.87
1986-87 31,601.1 1,394.4 4.41
1987-88 38,806.6 1,711.6 3.90
1988-89 39,870.0 1,780.6 4.25
1989-90 42,591.8 1,648.5 3.87
1990-91 46,719.0 2,485.5 5.32
1991-92 55,828.5 2,762.0 4.95
1992-93 63,207.6 3,264.6 5.16
1993-94 73,686.3 3,756.7 5.10
1994-95 83,020.8 3,948.0 4.76


TABLE FIVE: THE ALLOCATIONS TO THE POLICE
IN PUNJAB’s DEVELOPMENT BUDGETS
(Amounts in million rupees)
YEAR PUNJAB POLICE PERCENT
1981-82 335.00 2.64 0.78
1982-83 405.00 1.74 0.42
1983-84 422.00 3.63 0.86
1984-85 430.00 5.51 1.28
1985-86 567.00 5.40 0.94
1986-87 660.13 6.59 0.99
1987-88 892.02 7.52 0.84
1988-89 745.00 8.51 1.14
1989-90 716.90 5.24 0.74
1990-91 766.00 7.00 0.91
1991-92 999.22 8.79 0.88
1992-93 1200.20 9.34 0.78
1993-94 1151.89 5.85 0.51
1994-95 1028.34 8.70 0.84


TABLE SIX: DISTRIBUTION OF POLICE BUDGET FOR 1994-95
(Amounts in million rupees)
EXPENDITURE HEADS AMOUNT PERCENT
Pay and allowances 3,331.8 83.63
Commodities and services 568.5 14.40
Purchase of durable goods 0.0 0.00
Repair of durable goods 60.5 1.53
Transfer payments 17.2 0.44
TOTAL 3,908.0 100.00

Commodities and services include POL (petroleum, oil, lubricants), tavelling allowances, bills for telephones, electricity and gas, and charges for stationery, printing, etc.
Purchase of durable goods includes purchase of transport vehicles, wireless sets and other equipment.
Transfer payments include rewards for outstanding performance of duty, allocations to Shaheed Funds and funds for secret services.


TABLE SEVEN: ALLOCATIONS TO PUNJAB POLICE FOR DURABLES
(Amounts in million rupees)
YEAR TRANSP TELE ARMS OTHERS TOTAL
1984-85 11.7 0.7 0.0 1.8 14.2
1985-86 38.8 11.3 2.0 1.6 53.7
1986-87 120.6 49.4 23.1 4.9 198.0
1987-88 60.0 15.8 15.1 3.8 94.7
1988-89 73.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 73.5
1989-90 12.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 12.3
1990-91 178.3 25.0 40.0 11.0 254.3
1991-92 34.7 5.8 46.7 9.6 96.8
1992-93 141.2 12.7 19.2 18.3 191.4
1993-94 65.0 3.1 0.0 8.5 76.6

TRANSP. includes all motor vehicles
TELE. includes telecommunications equipment
ARMS.includes anti-riot equipment

The entire allocation in 1993-94 was only for Lahore city and the newly created districts of Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad. There was no allocation for the normal requirements of the police.

TABLE EIGHT: THE PRESENT POSITION OF TRANSPORT
TYPE QUANTITY USABLE UNUSABLE
Pick-ups 1,069 785 284
Jeeps 519 409 110
Carriers 467 402 65
Cars- 278 196 82
Ambulances 16 16 0
Recovery vehicles 9 7 2
APC 9 4 5
Escort cars 4 4 0
Fork-lifters 2 2 0
Motorcycles 1,546 1,296 250
TOTAL 3,919 3,117 802
Carriers include troop carriers, prison vans and mobile canteens.

Police stations without any pick-up 128
ASPs and DSPs without a jeep 85
A vehicle is considered to be unusable after having run 250,000 kms or after five to six years of use. Under this formula, about 387 vehicles are supposed to be replaced every year only to maintain the present number, at a cost presently estimated to be Rs 320 millions.


TABLE NINE: THE PRESENT POSITION OF WIRELESS SETS
TYPE QUANTITY USABLE UNUSABLE
Mobile 2,782 1,510 1,272
Pocket 2,091 1,165 926
Base 1,109 889 220
Portable 547 127 420
H.F. 115 53 62
TOTAL 6,644 3,744 2,900


TABLE TEN: THE REQUIREMENT OF WIRELESS SETS
LOCATION QUANTITY
Police stations without any wireless set 130
Police posts without any wireless set 145
Police kiosks without any wireless set 86


TABLE ELEVEN: POLICE ENCOUNTERS, 1986 TO 1990
NUMBER 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Encounters 16 28 68 60 167
Policemen shaheeds 14 18 18 07 19
Policemen injured 45 48 34 35 43
Criminals killed 10 16 36 15 69
Criminals injured 15 09 08 17 32
Criminals arrested N/A N/A N/A 136 315


TABLE TWELVE: POLICE ENCOUNTERS, JAN. 1991 TO JUNE 1993
NUMBER 1-5/1991 6-12/1991 1992 1-6/1993
Encounters 94 120 197 86
Policemen shaheeds 07 10 41 07
Policemen injured 18 43 108 52
Criminals killed 38 56 88 37
Criminals injured 17 28 38 24
Criminals arrested 118 216 327 98
The author was the IGP Punjab from June 20, 1991, to May 31, 1993, and most of the encounters in the above table took place during his tenure.