mid day editorial: Police must help, not harass citizens

From hijacking parking space to failing on electricity dues, Mankhurd and Dindoshi police stations have made life hell for their neighbours, this paper reported. Families of co-operative housing societies in Malad and Mankhurd, which share their buildings with the Dindoshi and Mankhurd police stations, are living a nightmare.

Constant visitor traffic inside the premises, and the alleged high-handedness of the police, means they do not have any privacy. One of the building complexes has a station house and officers' room, while the first floor has a detection room in a building. Recently, the police also opened a new office for externed criminals on the third floor.

Residents must now contend with the police using the common gate, with dozens of visitors blocking access to the building, along with mobs coming in to protest. Then, there are the screams of criminals and access issues for residents who are regularly checked by police officials who do not recognise them, and the most inexcusable, the home department not paying maintenance for the flats that they have been occupying.

Maintenance needs to be cleared without delay. It is ironic that the police, who are here to implement the laws and punish offenders, are guilty of not paying maintenance. In this aspect, they are offenders themselves.

The police and residents need to send their representatives to initiate dialogue and arrive at a compromise. One has to see how these problems can be ironed out, in a spirit of co-operation and mutual understanding.

Residents' concerns and problems should not be brushed off, they are valid and need to be addressed. Both have to co-exist, but they have to do so in a manner that creates the least bit of friction in this co-operative housing society.

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