THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Police Department will set up help desks in all relief camps after complaints surfaced regarding the conduct of male inmates. Police said the complaints were mostly regarding alcohol consumption and gambling but since the camps are expected to function for a couple of weeks, it was decided to set up desks in all centres to tackle such issues.
Each desk will have a woman civil police officer and would be provided with a radio communication device. “Though the complaints are less in number, we have to address them. Around 8 lakh people are in the camp, so these sort of issues are bound to happen. In such a scenario, police presence would be helpful,” said a senior police officer. On Monday, 3,575 camps were running while about 290 shut down.
However, the decision of providing hand-held radio devices to each camps will pose a challenge as more than 3,500 wireless sets would be required for the purpose. The devices will be channelised from districts unaffected by flood.
Meanwhile, the police telecommunication wing is learnt to have written to the government asking them to direct various departments not to purchase radio communication devices on their own and instead allot them required fund to take care of the communication needs of other departments in case of contingency.
The decision came in the wake of the experience felt during the rescue operations in connection with the devastating flood. The tele wing came to know that though various departments had purchased wireless sets by spending huge amounts, none of them were available during the rescue operations.
The tele wing that boasts of manpower over 800 personnel have in possession about 12,000 hand-held and static radio devices that were extensively put into use for rescue and relief operations.“Though the Revenue Department and Forest Department had splashed money on buying wireless sets, it was the police devices that came to the aid in co-ordinating activities during the flood,” police said.
In Pathanamthitta district, the rescue operations went in full swing only after the tahsildars were provided wireless sets as other communication devices went dead. Even the vital data from the dams were conveyed to the Chief Minister’s Office through police wireless, something that could blight the image of the communication capabilities of the Kerala State Electricity Board.