The budgetary allocation for security in Gujarat is Rs 397 crore, with Rs 65 crore allocated to the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF). The budget also outlines the raising of two additional groups of SRPF, but ground reality calls for a rethink. SRPF personnel posted in various pockets of the state are not as fortunate as their cousins—the Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force. Every day, the SRPF men have to walk to the nearest police station to finish their ablutions.

Even when there is peace in the city, it is a battle zone for the SRPF personnel posted in the confines of the Walled City everyday. On the other hand, some of these camps have become a permanent fixture in the city’s landscape, as a threat perception still exists with a shortage of local policemen. “It has been six months now, but it’s either this derelict building or the city police station that we can use to finish our ablutions,” said an SRPF constable refusing to be named.

“Our pleas for better toilet facilities never reach the senior officers, as the immediate superiors consider this to be an objection, which might mean transfers or leave cancellation,” added the personnel, who, along with 30 of his comrades, have been camping outside Nazarbaugh building near Mandvi. The SRPF personnel say that the camp outside Nazarbaugh has been there since 1982, when the city had witnessed some serious riots.

Even as the city houses SRPF Group I headquarters near Lalbaugh, the men posted in ‘sensitive’ areas such as Panigate, Dabhi Faliya, Nazarbaugh, Ladwada, Sultanpura and Junagadhi Fulwar are slowly turning claustrophobic. “Since camps were not good, we were also provided with Porta Cabins, which soon become overcrowded,” added the SRPF constable. But he and his colleagues are glad that some of the local Gujarat Electricity Board officials have provided them with electricity connections on a temporary basis so that they could at least charge their cellphones.

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