Police asked to prioritise purchase of water-cannons and anti-riot gear
New delhi: Days after the farmers' protests began at the Capital's border on November 27, the Delhi Police asked its officers to prioritise the procurement of water-cannons and anti-riot gear in light of the "requirements in the present scenario". However, an earlier proposal to procure stun-guns was dropped.
On December 11 last year, a Provisioning and Logistics meeting was chaired by the Delhi Police Commissioner and attended by two Special CPs, one Joint CP, two DCPs and the CRO and FA to the Commissioner.
Sources said that officials were told that procurement of water cannons against condemnation may be taken on priority keeping in view of the requirements in the present scenario. "The procurement of riot control vehicles (VAJRA) may be taken up in the next financial year," officers were directed.
Sources aware of the meeting said that another direction was related to the procurement of anti-riot equipment. "The anti-riot equipment including full-body protectors, polycarbonate shield, lathi, helmets should be procured after proper evaluation, inspection by the technical committee. The end users may also be involved to check their suitability, comfort and ease of wearing the same," officials were told during the meeting.
According to an official, the authorisation and scale of bullet resistance jacket and bullet resistant vest may be fixed and procurement may then be prioritised accordingly. "The procurement of Self Protection Aerosol Device (SPAD) may be dropped and the process of procuring of Bolawrap on trail basis may be taken with the concerned firm," the top officers were directed.
Officials were further told that the functioning of CCTV cameras funded through MPLAD funds and the installation process of laying of cables by ECIL (CCTV vendor) may also be checked. The criteria of health monitoring of CCTVs be also checked in other such proposals.
A suitable vehicle for the mobile crime team will also be explored considering the given requirements and complying with the mandatory environmental conditions having a capacity of 10-12 seats. The vehicles like Tempo Traveler, Mahindra Marazzo, Force Trax, Tata Winger may be checked or the fabrication on suitable chassis may also be explored keeping in view of Supreme Court guidelines, the CP is known to have directed senior officers.
Commissioner SN Shrivastava also directed senior officers to prioritise the procurement of vehicles for the crime team, specialised vehicles like water-cannons, CCTVs, SIM servers and other technical proposals. "It was also directed that the timelines of various proposals adhere to and expedited," CP directed senior officials.
In July last year, at a meeting between the top brass of Delhi Police, anti-riot training and the availability of anti-riot gear and vehicles were discussed. During the meeting, each district had presented details of the equipment they have which include body protectors, teargas guns, taser-guns, tear smoke guns, water-cannons, Vajra, polycarbonate lathis and others.
