The government is to construct five dormitories for women police personnel, to ensure easy and quick mobilsation of the force during emergencies. Their present residential facilities are unplanned and hamper their efficient performance.

The residential hostels will be constructed in five divisional headquarters outside the capital.

During emergency, the police department faces difficulty in picking the women police up on time to deploy them at the troubled spots as they do not have designated quarters to stay, as do their male colleagues.

Sources in the Home Ministry say that it has become essential to set up designated residential quarters for the women police so that they can be collected at short notice during crises.

“With the rise of women criminals,” points out an official of the Planning Department of the Home Ministry, “the role of the women police has taken on added significance.”

He says that infrastructure development and population growth in the country had seen the inevitable rise of women criminals.

The police department has recruited an increased number of women police at the divisional headquarters over the past few years to keep law and order under control and to deal with the women criminals.

“Unfortunately, as the women police live scattered all over instead of in a specified residential facility, we cannot use them to their optimum efficiency,” the official says.

A dormitory for women police has been constructed inside the Rajarbagh Police Lines in the capital too. This makes it easier to reach them and place them on duty in the trouble spots. Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar inaugurated the dormitory last week. This six-storeyed building will house 500 women police personnel.

Home Ministry officials say that separate hostels for women police has become as the number of women police personnel would increase to deal with rising crime, particularly among women.

“It is unfortunate that such a hostel has been constructed only in the capital city when all the women police, working hard in other divisional headquarters, have no place to put up,” says another official of the Home Ministry's Planning Division.

The Finance Ministry has already approved the project involving about Tk 8.95 crore, excluding the cost of land. The government has also allocated Tk 1 crore in the Annual Development Programme for the project.

“The process to float tender notice for the construction of the women dormitories in five metropolitan cities – Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet – is underway,' says Monirul Islam, an official of the Home Ministry's Planning Division.

He said the construction work of the proposed dormitories to accommodate some 300 women police would begin once the process is completed. “We hope to begin construction work within a couple of months,” adds Monirul.

He says that the facilities would increase the efficiency of the women police, which in turn would also help fighting crime in the divisional headquarters.