Hit by staff crunch, Mumbai Police to stick to 12-hour shift

A team of policemen patrol the Marine Drive amid Covid-19 curbs, on December 31, 2021. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The Mumbai police are not in a position to grant executive work hours to their men and women. Hit by staff crunch due to the pandemic, the system could never stick to an 8-hour shift in the past two years. Now the department's top brass has made it clear that the force will stick to its old 12-hour work pattern. Top officers attributed the decision to staff shortage and longer commute time of cops.

On May 5, 2016, the Mumbai police had taken the historic step of introducing the 8-hour shift at the Deonar police station. Before that, the city cops would be told about their reporting time, but "jaane ka time ka koi idea nahin" used to be their common refrain.

A Mumbai police naka bandi at Charni Road on December 31, 2021. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Ravindra Patil, a constable posted at Deonar police station, had reached out to then police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar and had made a presentation on the dynamics of the stressful life led by policemen. This had prompted Padsalgikar to set up a four-member committee and frame 3 phases to bring down the work timing from 12 hours to 8 hours. In subsequent years, executive hours brought much relief to the cops, especially the constabulary that forms about 85 per cent of the total police force.

"The 8-hour shift was definitely a blessing for us as we used to get more time for our families and more energy to work in police stations. When the pandemic hit us, many cops took ill and it forced the department to scrap the 8-hour duty, but we thought it was for the time being," said a constable from the Central region requesting anonymity.

A cop on duty on Mahim Causeway, on January 13. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Sources in the department said the shift was stretched to 12 hours in April 2020 as the department had been told to deploy the maximum force for efficient patrolling during the lockdown. After the second COVID wave receded, many constables were waiting for fresh orders on a shorter shift, but that never happened.

On January 27, Maharashtra's Director-General of Police Sanjay Pande announced an 8-hour shift for all the women constables in the state. "After working for 2 years on the 12-hour shift, we had expected to get back our 8-hour shifts, but nothing of that sort has happened. Many officers are not in favour of this shift and need maximum force in the police station," said another constable from the East region.

When asked whether the 8-hour shift will return to the force, Vishwas Nangre-Patil, joint commissioner (law and order), explained, "The 8-hour shift is ideal in the police stations which have less workload. I personally was involved in bringing short shifts for cops in rural Maharashtra. But as far as Mumbai Police is concerned, the challenges here are different. Most of the cops travel for 3 to 4 hours daily to the police station, which not only reduces his time at home but also at the police station too. The 12-hour work shift avails maximum time as the cops have to come back to work on the second half of next day. I believe this is a good work shift for our cops."

Voices

Vishwas Nangre-Patil,joint commissioner (law & order)
"As far as Mumbai Police is concerned, the challenges here are different. Most of the cops travel for 3 to 4 hours daily to the police station, which not only reduces his time at home but also at the police station too'

A constable
‘The 8-hour shift was a blessing for us as we used to get more time for our families and more energy to work in police stations. When the pandemic hit us, many cops took ill and it forced the department to scrap the 8-hour duty, but we thought it was for the time being'

2016
Year 8-hour shift was introduced in Mumbai police