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Lake Police ill-equipped to tackle suicide menace
Lake Police ill-equipped to tackle suicide menace. Every other day someone or the other attempts a suicide at the Hussain Sagar Lake. In spite of eighty-seven attempts in the last one year, the authorities have still not beefed up security.
87 attempts in the last one year have still not woken the authorities to beef up security
• Cops lacks rescue boat and swimmers, depend on Tourism Department
• Delay in communication from control room becomes crucial to save victims
• Mounted police operates only in upper Tank Bund area
Every other day someone or the other attempts a suicide at the Hussain Sagar Lake. In spite of eighty-seven attempts in the last one year, the authorities have still not beefed up security. Till May, 2015, sixty-nine people were rescued. Eighteen lost their lives out of which fifteen were male and three women.
The bifurcation of the state has had its effect on the Lake Police station. There are no expert swimmers attached to the Lake Police station for rescue operations. “Earlier, there were four but were transferred to other places after the state was bifurcated. Now, the cops are performing both surveillance as well as rescue operations,” an officer said.
Lake Police deals with street sexual harassment of women, rash driving, sex trade and suicide attempts but are ill-equipped. Lack of infrastructure is a major issue. Apart from the paucity of personnel, modern policing equipment is the need of the hour. The station telephone is frequently out-of-order; the only source of communication to reach the police station by relatives and friends is by dialing the emergency number ‘Dial 100.’
Information is routed to the police station from control room through wireless sets or personal mobile phones. This entire routing process takes at least five to ten minutes, which is very crucial in case a person drowning in the lake is to be rescued. Moreover, as Lake Police does not have their own patrol boat and staff, they depend on Tourism Department for rescue operations, which take additional time to reach for rescue.
The special ‘Mounted Police’ and bicycles patrol launched by city police, on shores of the lake is proving to be a farce. “The Mounted Police starts their operation from 5 pm to 8 pm and cover the upper Tank Bund area,” inspector Sreedevi said, adding that the bicycle patrol functions in morning hours. What is surprising is that in spite of patrolling, many try committing suicide. “There is a need for more staff and state-of-the-art equipment,” said an official.
By Victor Rao
