ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: Already suffering a communication crisis due to non-payment of its telephone bills, the Islamabad police now faces a fuel crisis, Dawn has learnt. After losing the facility of making outgoing calls on most of its telephones, the prospect of grounding its fleet of 660 motor vehicles for want of fuel is quite unnerving for the “model” police department.

An official source told Dawn on Sunday that the high-ups of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police had informed the federal government last August that expenditure on carrying out its ‘protocol duties’ would leave the police no funds for fuel in December.

Nowadays the ICT police are buying fuel on credit which could be stopped anytime, according the source.

The ICT police fleet includes trucks, buses, cars, jeeps and motorbikes. The police vehicles used for VIP escort duties are also likely to stop in case of fuel crises.

A concerned police officer confirmed that a letter had been written to the government in August seeking funds to ward off the looming fuel crisis but a reply was still awaited.

And the danger that the one-way ICT police phones are disconnected altogether for non-payment is ever present.

When an official at Kohsar police station was contacted, he said that his telephone lost outgoing call facility about a month ago, causing disruption in police work. “We have been using our wireless system for communication since the telephone problem emerged. But sometimes the wireless does not serve the purpose,” the official said.

Similar comments were offered by the officers at other police stations. Bhara Kahu police station has been facing the problem for the last 20 days.—Staff Reporter