LAHORE: The capital city district police, who usually own a good chunk of obsolete and outdated vehicles and motorcycles round the clock, have finally handed over 27 vehicles of multiple types to respective police units after a complete repair and renovation process in one go.

A fleet of 27 vehicles has been renovated in a period of 40 days at a cost of Rs3.6 million. The amount was spent out of Lahore police funds as a part of the ongoing police reforms.

Currently, Lahore police own a fleet of 871 vehicles including trucks, buses, prison vans, jeeps, cars, doubleand single cabin pick-ups and about 1,800 CG-125 motorcycles.

Headquarters SP Mohammad Omer Saeed told Dawn on Tuesday most of the vehicles renovated were in use of police stations and checkpoints and were a major hurdle in smooth operations of field police.

He said the renovation of more than one vehicle in one go was carried out for the first time in the history of Lahore police as halfhearted efforts were made on an individual basis in the past.

Saeed said outdated vehicles used by police stations, station house officers and sub-divisional police officers were the major cause of slow police working, ineffective patrolling, lateresponse to emergency situations and delayed process of raids.

He said earlier as many as 200 outdated motorcycles had also been repaired and handed over to police stations and police offices for better working, adding 20 more motorcycles would be repaired in the second phase.

Out of 27 vehicles renovated, there are two jeeps in use of the SDPOs; pick-ups of police stations of Mughalpura, Shalimar, Liaqatabad, Lower Mall, Sabzazar, Chuhng, Civil Lines, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Sarwar Road, Muslim Town, Shadbagh, Nawankot, Shahdara Town, Faisal Town and South Cantonment; police check-posts of L-Block and FC College; mobile canteen; prison-van judicial; two Elite Police pick-ups; pick-up of SSP Admin; and one pick-up of motor transport officer.

Official statistics available with Dawn show that the incumbent police authorities have managed to retrieve in the last four months a number of vehicles and motorcycles from people who were issued police belongings unauthorised.

Among 1,800 motorcycles, there are around 404 motorcycles which have been retrieved from officers and officials of police department against authorisation. Similarly, as many as 21 vehicles have also been retrieved from `favourites` According to Lahore police calculations, up to Rs2 million worth of fuel has been saved as a result of retrieval According to an SHO, jeeps and cars in official and privateuseofseniorofHcersare usually maintained on a priority basis, while vehicles with police stations are on least priority for proper maintenance and timely replacement which not only cause poor police working in field, but also embarrassment to the department in the eye of general public.