Jun 21, 2002 11:16 PM
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(Updated Jun 21, 2002 11:47 PM)
The common man on the street has the image of an average policeman as a bloated, bumbling, comic figure holding a lathi in one hand with the other palm extended. Perhaps, Hollywood by its Keystone Cops and Bollywood by its Pandu Hawaldar caricatures helped perpetuate this image. But truth is stranger than fiction! This image needs to be substituted with the image of a professional policeman who is sensitive to the problems of the law–abiding public, but hardened enough to deal with crooks and criminals. The goal must be to project the image of the Bobby in London, Mounty in Canada or NYPD Officer in U.S.A., albeit translated into Indian idiom
In the eyes of the middle classes, law and order are breaking down and it always has been. Police and politicians create an impermeable web of corruption and concealment. No-one in Mumbai will talk of such things, the more so since the participants in this warfare are not fighting for a cause or an ideal. It is a just question of money - and the poor, unemployed youth of the city are increasingly its foot-soldiers and to be a common man in India is expensive. Need a phone, or gas for your home or electricity for your factory? Pay up. The palms of corrupt government officials are outstretched.
The cancer of corruption has eaten into the entrails of Indian society, and the police department is no exception. If at all, the cancer is very much openly in evidence here. The lame excuse that corruption is a global phenomenon and Mumbai police being part of the society in which they live cannot be expected to be free from corruption is an excuse of escapism. Considering the enormous authority wielded by mumbai police, even at lower levels, all acts of the police personnel must be fully documented and transparent, leaving no scope whatsoever for the slightest doubt about their integrity. Association with persons of dubious character and lavish style of life disproportionate to earnings have become the order of the day. It cannot be gainsaid that a person joins the police department, not for making money, but for rendering service to society, even if it is the only job available. So it is no excuse to say that the job of a mumbai police is underpaid to justify corruption. Every police officer and man must be made to realize that however meagre the compensation from society for his role, the dignity, status, power and authority attached to his office are the compensation and if he seeks anything else, exemplary punishment would swiftly follow.
This happened to me when I landed at the International Airport, Mumbai last December. After I came out of the Airport (21 hours of flight, 1 hour of immigration and another 1 hour of customs), A Taxi-wala said he is cheaper than any other Taxi's there and would cost me less where ever I wanted to go. I said ok for Rs. 300 for a drop off at my company's guest house at Ville Parle, as I did'nt want to stand in the so called official ''Q'' for taxis controlled by Mumbai Police. After Kuber Singh (Name of the Taxi driver, I happen to remember his name as the owner of Guzzlers Inn, Bangalore happens to have the same name ) put my language in the boot, he told me that it will cost me Rs. 50 more, and the extra cost is for the policeman sitting at the corner of the road. Well so much to avoid the long ''Q'' and bribe the Police ''wala''.
Everyday problem faced by the Middle Class can be well handled when the ideal government is small, moral, accountable, responsible and transparent. When information technology in every public office interface so the common citizen can have access to information. The goal is to improve India's rank on the Transparency International corruption index- atleast for the better. No matter What happened to me or the other middle class normal man, but in the end its the Mumbai Police who Deliver the ''Amchi Mumbai''
Cheers to Mumbai Police ..
Lesh (As I know Him)
