Nearly 50 per cent police stations in northeast don't have landline phone

Imagine you are in deep trouble and need to speed-dial the nearest police station. If you are in any of the northeastern states, that may not be possible. Here is the shocking data—48.07 per cent of the police stations in the northeast do not have a basic communication device such landline phone. This was revealed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the Lok Sabha on March 15.

As per the data, there are 649 police stations in the region, out of which 312 police stations don’t have a landline. ''A total of police stations in Assam stands at 329, followed by Manipur (84), Meghalaya (76), Mizoram (44), Nagaland (86), and Sikkim (30). On the other hand, 126 police stations out of 312 in Assam do not have landline phones followed by Manipur (64), Meghalaya (60) Mizoram (26), and Nagaland (36),'’ Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in the lower house.

Data on the availability of landline phones, wireless/mobile, and vehicles was not available for Arunachal Pradesh.

As per the data, Sikkim is the only state where all the police stations—30 in total—are equipped with telephones. 

Besides this, the data further revealed that out of 84 police stations in Manipur, seven have no vehicle. In Meghalaya, five out of 76 police stations don’t have vehicles. Vehicles are available in all police stations in Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.

Coming to the CCTVs, Assam tops the list of northeast states as the state has installed CCTV cameras in all the police stations, while in Manipur, the number of police stations with CCTV cameras stands at zero.

In Meghalaya, out of 76 police stations, CCTV cameras have been installed in 25. 

Also read: Assam budget 2023-24 to be tabled on March 16