"There needed to be a separate kitchen room and bedroom for the police at least. However, 29 of us are managing without such facilities in a very small house," said inspector Durga Prasad Shrestha. [break]"If a detainee manages to escape away the police personnel responsible might even lose his job, but here we are managing with a detention room," he added.
The area police is currently housed in a three-room building of the Bartibang VDC. The rooms are very small for office purpose.
According to Shrestha due to lack of space many police personnel sleep under the tent. In such a situation, it is really difficult to keep detainees.
Things were better until a few weeks ago when the police station was housed in a rented building in Hatiya. A few weeks ago the owner of the house increased the rent and demanded that the office should be shifted if they were not willing to pay the increased rent.
"This is a common problem for police especially in rural areas. Lack of building and infrastructure is seriously affecting the functining of the police," said DSP Krishna Sivakoti. "In some cases the police are compelled to set loose suspected criminals in the lack of detention room," he added.
During the insurgency, police stations were the prime target of the rebels. Countless police stations were burnt to ashes but new ones have not been constructed yet.
According to the district police office, Baglung only five out of 22 police units in the district have their own buildings. "Seventeen police units are housed in community or VDC buildings," said Dhakkar Thapa of the accounts section of the district police office. "We don´t have to pay rent for community or VDC building," he added.
Or else, for a private building used for police station the government pays Rs 350,000 per annum.
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