An army, as the saying goes, marches on its stomach. But for the state highway police, which has to patrol and oversee road safety and enforcement of traffic rules on over 50,000 km of national and state highways, the force runs, quite literally on diesel for their vehicles. And this is where it pinches hard. Faced with problems caused by an inadequate quota of diesel for their patrol vehicles, many of which are old, and hence consume more fuel, the highway police has sought that it be increased. At present, each of these vehicle gets 20 litres a day and the authorities have further demanded that it be increased to 30 litres. The department, which is tasked with ensuring road safety and enforcement of traffic discipline on these arterial roads, also suffers from a lack of manpower and an adequate number of vehicles. "We have requested the Director-General of Police (DGP) to increase the quota for each vehicle to 900 litres a month and this is expected to happen soon. Some of our vehicles are old and give a low average of around 8 to 10 km per litre. This affects the patrolling. "Some authorised petrol pumps, where our vehicles can fill diesel, are far from the highways. This creates logistical problems as our patrol cars have to travel to these places which are located at a distance from their places of deployment," said a senior police official. The official also explained that, for instance, on the show-piece 94 km Mumbai-Pune expressway, the highway police had four traffic aid posts, namely Palaspe, Borghat, Khandala and Vadgaon, with a total of six patrol vehicles. Each of these points cover a 25 to 50 km stretch, depending on their jurisdiction. "An inadequate quota of diesel affects their patrolling. On the Pune side, our vehicles have to go to the rural police headquarters in Pune for refueling as there is an issue with the private petrol pump operator," he said. Similarly, across Maharashtra, the highway police cover 17,350 km of national and over 35,000 km of state highways. However, they have just 63 police traffic aid posts with 63 vehicles. Apart from a shortage of vehicles, the police department also suffers a staff crunch—they have just 1,900 instead of the 2,400 approved staff—also affects the patrolling. "We usually cover the national highways, while patrolling is conducted on state highways only as and when required," said an official. However, the department is due to get 96 new interceptor vehicles in its fleet by September this year. Of these, four will be deployed on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, sources said. LESS FUEL QUOTA IRKS CITY POLICE Some authorised petrol pumps, where our vehicles can fill diesel, are far from the highways. This creates logistical problems as our patrol cars have to travel to these places which are located at a distance from their places of deployment.?Senior police official GRIEVANCES

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