Fifteen police stations of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) are operating out of rented buildings, causing sufferings for police officers and hefty rents amounting to Tk50-60 lakh per month.
The officers of these police stations have to face various problems owing to working from rented buildings.
Activities of some police stations under the DMP are also going on in abandoned buildings of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.
According to DMP data, there are 50 police stations in the capital. Of them, 31 police stations are operating in their own buildings.
Another 15 police stations are carrying out their activities from rented buildings and community centres.
Three police stations are operating in the abandoned buildings of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works. And the activities of Airport police station are going on in a building of the airport's cargo village.
Operating in rented buildings are Bangshal, Mugda, Kalabagan, Ramna, Kamrangirchar, Adabar, Shah Ali, Uttarkhan, Darus Salam, Kadamatoli, Badda, Rupnagar, Uttara East and West, Hatirjheel and Vasantek police stations.
DMP Lalbagh Division Deputy Commissioner (DC) Zafar Hossain said that the rent for the two police stations of the division is about Tk8 lakh per month and Tk3 lakh for Kalabagan police station under the Ramna division.
The estate wing of the DMP has to pay rent for other police stations as well. It is true that money is being spent, but the sufferings of the policemen are not going away. Due to this reason, discussions are going on about the rest of the DMP police stations shifting to their own buildings.
The policemen of Motijheel, Ramna, Shahbagh and Rampura expressed their anger over the issues that they face on police stations being in rented buildings.
There are no good places to stay at their police stations, they said.
Accommodation at police stations is provided only for members who are responsible for security. The rest of the members live in rented houses under their own management. They have to face problems from time to time as there is no quarter for the members along with rest quarters for the officers in the police station building.
Police officers said sometimes they arrest an accused by carrying out a raid the whole night. It is not possible that they will start work with a little rest in the morning. If they want to take a break going to their rented home, they will not be able to produce the accused in court on time.
For this reason, it is necessary to keep rooms for officers and quarters for forces (police constables) where they can rest and relax in these police stations of the capital, they said.
However, many police stations now have modern buildings with officers' rooms for rest and barracks for the forces. Shahjahanpur police station is one of the modern police station buildings.
During a recent visit to the police station, it was found that the ground floor of the six-storey building has car parking facilities and office rooms for other officers, including the duty officer's room. There is also accommodation for police officers.
Besides, the police station has its own catering system.
Sub-Inspector Amit Hasan Mahmud of Shahjahanpur police station said that all members working in this police station have accommodation. There are all facilities including separate accommodations for female police officers.
Although the modern police station of the DMP has such facilities, members of other police stations are suffering. In many police stations, drinking water has to be brought from Rajarbagh Police Lines. Many policemen expressed anger about these.
They said that despite being a police station within the same division, the conditions are different. It needs to be resolved.
Kalabagan police station is running in a six-storey rented building in the Panthapath area. There is a car parking facility under this building. On the second floor, there is the officer-in-charge's room and washroom and duty officer's room.
On the upper floor are inspector operations and seresta branches. And on the third floor there is the inspector (Investigation) Officer's room. The rest of the floors accommodate the members of the police station.
In this regard, an official of Kalabagan police station said that this building does not have accommodation for all the forces of the police station. Some of the forces stay in the old Kalabagan police station building. And even though there was an initiative of the police station to work at Tentultala, it has now been turned into a playground.
Kalabagan police station Inspector (Operation) Bijan Kumar Das said: "Tentultala ground has been turned into a playground. A new place for the police station has not been allocated yet. Besides, there is no plan for a permanent police station building. However, the matter is under the consideration of the higher authorities.”
Zafar Hossain, the deputy commissioner of the Lalbagh division of the DMP, said that Bangshal and Kamrangirchar police stations are still running their activities from rented houses in Lalbagh. Along with the problems faced by policemen, it is costing extra money. Space is being sought for these two police stations in the area.
Maybe there will be a permanent arrangement of two police stations, said the official.
The estate branch of the DMP bears the rent cost of the police stations.
Police Inspector (Investigation) Russell Hossain of Motijheel police station talked about the water problem. "Motijheel police station does not have any facility for drinking water under its own management. Water is brought from the Rajarbagh Police Lines two times a day for the police force, which is kept in a tank in front of the police station. Policemen and pedestrians drink from there.”
Police stations that do not need to pay rent
Four police stations of the DMP do not pay any rent despite not being in their own buildings.
Of these four police stations, Gulshan, Banani and Motijheel are operating in abandoned buildings of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works. And the activities of Airport police station are going on in a building in the Cargo Village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
DMP Joint Commissioner (Operation) Biplab Kumar Sarkar said that the government has to spend a huge amount of money every month due to the operations of the DMP police stations that are in rented buildings.
The DMP has already got land for some of the 15 police stations to reduce that cost. Land acquisition for some more police stations is in progress. Besides, land is being sought in several police station areas.
He said that land acquisition work is not so easy. After acquiring the land, developing it and constructing the police station building is a long-term matter. However, this problem will not last long, he hoped.
