From leaking ceilings to flaky walls: No end to woes of police colony residents
Complaints are dealt with promptly when they pertain to issues like no water or electricity supply, but other issues are not looked at with any seriousness, said a police officer
Mumbai: When the urgent need for repair and maintenance of police quarters in Ghatkopar and Nehru Nagar was mooted during an internal meeting chaired by the police commissioner in December, families residing in these colonies hoped their troubles would subside soon. But nearly three months down the line, while problems like water seepage, non-functional elevators and paint peeling off the walls in the colonies have worsened, various agencies tasked with their upkeep seem too busy passing the buck.
“The entire building is leaking, and water is seeping into every single flat,” Vaishali Awhad, a resident of the Nehru Nagar police colony which has 19 buildings with 40 flats each, told HT. Around 750 families reside in the colony, which was built by MHADA more than 50 years ago and handed over to the housing department of Maharashtra police.
Three other buildings adjacent to Awhad’s have the same leakage problem, which worsened after the exterior walls were replastered, she said. “Our family members work day and night in the police, but when they come home, they are unable to even sleep properly owing to the poor condition of our quarters.”
Reshma Karbal, another resident of the colony, echoed Awhad, saying the quarters leaked 24x7 during the monsoons. “We have no option then but to string up a plastic sheet under the kitchen ceiling.”
Paint peeling off the walls was another major problem in the colony, and many families had covered their walls entirely with stickers for respite, said residents. HT spotted cracks on many walls, while several windows looked like they would fall off anytime.
The condition of the police colony in Ghatkopar west was no better. HT saw a large number of abandoned cars or khataras dumped inside the premises, which had not been removed despite several complaints. Though some maintenance work was underway, residents said it was very irregular and slow, forcing them to spend on urgently needed repairs out of their own pocket.
“The repair work started five months ago, but hardly any anything has been done till now. They come for a day or two, do some work and go away for several days on end,” a constable said, requesting anonymity.
When asked about the lack of adequate maintenance in the colonies, an assistant commissioner of police said it was taken care of by the PWD. “We are not experts in building construction, so we won’t know the quality of repairs carried out by the PWD. The PWD too is a government department, so we cannot say much,” the official said.
S Jaykumar, joint commissioner of police (admin), said, “Just last year, more than ₹60 crore was spent on repairs. But several buildings are old, so we have to plan the finances for these repairs.”
A senior police officer who was attached with the Nehru Nagar police station earlier too pointed at the lack of funds. But a bigger problem, he said, was the lack of staff. “There is just one police officer for taking care of housing problems in all the police colonies,” he said.
The biggest problem, however, was the lack of any redressal mechanism for complaints related to housing. “There are no records of the problems reported by personnel living in the colonies. Housing societies have a collective decision-making system to deal with maintenance and related issues, but police colonies have no such thing,” he said.
Complaints are dealt with promptly when they pertain to issues like no water or electricity supply, but other issues are not looked at with any seriousness, he said.
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