<i>Hard task, poor logistics</i>
As the sun sets, a staff fixes a bamboo fence to close the door of Kalikaprashad highway police outpost with sacks hung atop. Photo: STAR
Kalikaprashad highway police outpost is assigned to patrol about 100 km highway from Kishoreganj to Kanchpur bride in Narayonganj to keep it safe from robbers and miscreants. But the outpost can hardly be called a police station and logistics are too inadequate to the job. The outpost is housed in a tin-shed abandoned by labourers who had stayed there years back when the road was renovated by the Roads and Highways department. Sacks are hung on its lone door and two windows as a protection from rain as there are no shutters. Inside, there is one table. The outpost is manned by 16 policemen but there is no sitting arrangement in the shed for a meeting, said Officer-in-Charge Md. Mohiuddin Sheikh during a visit. The costly patrol car is kept nearby under the open sky. The policemen have rented a house in the village near the outpost. Those not on duty spend the night there. The fuel they are allotted daily can run the patrol car about 25 kilometres but they are assigned to patrol the 100 km highway. There is no safe place in the outpost to keep arms. Cops have to keep arms with them always, whether they are on duty or not, OC Mohiuddin said. He said 25 litres of fuel are allotted monthly for the lone motorbike in the outpost, which keeps it running for a few days. The patrol car gets 10 litres of fuel a day. Mohiuddin said, he can not supervise on-duty staff due to lack of logistics. He said there are many important spots on the highway. These include Kachpur bridge area in Narayonganj, Sibpur and Vitimorjal in Norshingdi and Bhairob and Katiadi areas in Kishoreganj. All these points are used by drug traffickers and hijackers, he admitted. Night coaches from Sylhet, Kishoreganj, Bhairab, Comilla and Chittagong cross the Kanchpur bridge point.
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