LARKANA, July 3: A police station in Larkana district has been operating in a tent for the past three months due to the dilapidated condition of its former premises, it emerged on Wednesday.

Imdad Shah, the SHO of Arija Phirhiwaro police station, told journalists that the police station was established in 2006 but it had no building of its own.

According to a source, the police then forcibly occupied the building of the basic health unit run by the Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiatives (PPHI).

Another police source said that since April 2013 police had stopped using the building and had been operating in a tent.

Of the six rooms which they had occupied in the crumbling building two were in complete shambles with pieces of plaster from the ceiling continually falling off, said the SHO.

Further details were provided by SHO Shah who said that to avoid any mishap the police station had been set up in a tent. Suspects arrested in minor cases during investigations were also kept inside the tent. However hardened criminals, wanted in high-profile cases, were shifted to Larkana and held at the taluka police station’s lock up.

Police records continued to be housed in the decrepit premises of the PPHI. There was danger of a termite attack on the building which could damage police records, said the SHO.

Due to threats to policemen, the tent has been pitched in front of the building where the temporary police station is running. Out of a staff strength of 35 one dozen policemen were deployed at checkpoints while between 12 and 15 usually remain in the tent and the remaining sanctioned staff perform outstation duties. Moreover, the police in the tent was prone to the potential attack of criminals, said SHO Shah. All these issues had been conveyed to the SSP Larkana, said the SHO.

When queried whether a plot had been allotted for the construction of a new building for the police station, SHO said that the proposal had been sent to the SSP who would then forward it to the IGP Sindh in Karachi.

As for the PPHI it was operating from a portion of a doctor’s official residence where no doctor was posted at the moment, the police said.