RTI documents reveal that the Delhi Police Department has spent as much as INR 295.66 crores during January 2010 to March 2016 for hire of 350 Gypsies and 50 SUVs. The amount was paid to Jay Pee and Co of Palam Colony, New Delhi. This spending of nearly INR 300 crores over the 6 year period could have actually been used to purchase a total of 2,800 vehicles.
This spending has been criticized by many automobile experts who argue that the Police Department could have purchased just 400 SUVs with INR 50 crores while the balance amount could have been diverted to other government programs.
Aside from this wastage of INR 300 crores, the Police Department also spent INR 37.22 crores on rent to other companies for hire of mini buses, CNG and LCV Tata 402 vehicles during the same period.
INR 2.06 crores was paid to M/s Sneh Tourist Corporation for hire of 40 buses, INR 42.93 crores was paid to M/s Narbada Travels for hire of 10 mini muses while M/s Rajendra Singh, GT Roadways and M/s Makhan Singh were paid INR 91.08 lakhs for hire of 23 CNG LCV/Tata 407.
This wastage of money has drawn the attention of Zeeshan Haider, an RTI activist from Trilokpuri in New Delhi. He has questioned the Police Department on why they did not make outright purchases instead of resorting to hired vehicles which has proved to be many times costlier.
This extravagance comes to the fore even as last year reports reveal acute shortage of funds under the Yuva Prahari community policing scheme of Delhi Police wherein stipends are paid to volunteers under this program. Delhi Police were also directed by Delhi High Court to install CCTV cameras in all police stations in the Capital by June 2015. However, citing shortage of funds, even this order has been ignored and not a single CCTV camera has been installed while those in use prior to the order has no facility for video recording.