Mumbai: 

Penny wise, pound foolish: Police vehicles across the city use around 4,500 litres of petrol, 7,500 litres of diesel

In a move that could rip a hole in the city's security blanket, the Mumbai police have been instructed to curtail the consumption of petrol/diesel, in the wake of the recent fuel price rise. What this means is that patrolling the streets will be affected as most police stations run out of their quota - 300 litres of fuel per month - by the 20th of every month. The quota has now been curtailed to 250 litres. Ever since bomb blasts rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, killing 50, patrolling in Mumbai was upped, but once the quota is over, officials from police stations say, they no choice, but to pay for the 10 days from their own
pockets.

A policeman from a suburban police station said, "We had to foot the Rs 800 bill for 40 litres of diesel last month." Police vehicles consume approx 4,500 litres of petrol.

And 7,500 litres of diesel per day, across police stations in the city and have to work within the monthly budget of Rs 1.5 crore. The city police have approximate 3,500 vehicles including four wheelers and motorcycles.

A senior police officer explained that each police station has six 4-wheelers and seven motorcycles for beat marshals. The six vehicles include - two Qualis (for senior inspectors and duty officers), and four mobile patrolling vans. On an average each mobile patrolling vehicle notches up 3,000 km every month.

While the city has 86 police stations, there are only five re-fuelling points - Marol, Nagpada, Ghatkopar (only diesel), Santacurz and Worli (only diesel). 

Cops we spoke to said they had to go out of their way to refuel as some pumps are far away from the police stations and in the process dip into the quota. "Sometimes the pump is short of fuel, which means the quota is being used up without a productive result," said a senior police officer. Policemen from the regional control rooms are often told that patrol vans are on standby because there's no fuel and request the control room to divert another mobile vehicle within the jurisdiction to handle emergency calls.

However, Ambalal Verma, State Additional DGP (Administration) said, "We have not restricted fuel consumption, but have asked officials to use fuel economically." Added Deputy Commissioner of Police (Motor Transport) K Joshi, "Since there are chances of misuse of fuel, we have asked them to keep a check on fuel usage. However there is no restriction as claimed."

For all that, vehicles that escort VVIPs, will get unlimited fuel. Police officials claimed the regulation was imposed in the end of July. Additional Commissioner of police (protection and security) Vinay Kargaonkar confirmed, "We do not have any problem with the supply of petrol and diesel for our vehicles on VVIP protection duty."