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Home guards can't shoot
Updated On: 30 December, 2009 07:01 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
On their 63rd Raising Day today, here's a home truth the 2,700 Home Guards in Mumbai have never fired a single bullet or handled sophisticated weaponry
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On their 63rd Raising Day today, here's a home truthu00a0the 2,700 Home Guards in Mumbai have never fired a single bullet or handled sophisticated weaponry
There are 2,700 Home Guards on duty in Mumbai every day.
When the Home Guards were originally raised in 1946 they were supposed to have been equipped with and trained to use older weapons such as the .303 rifle and the .22 rifle.
Yet, none of the 2,700 Home Guards on duty have fired a gun in the last 20 years.
They do know how to load and unload a weapon, but without bullets and obviously, have never ever visited a firing range.
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And that's not all. On the Home Guards' 63rd Raising Day today, this is a story of criminal apathy in the face of constant terror threats.
The role of the Home Guards was to serve as an auxiliary unit to the police in maintenance of law and order and internal security, but while the state and the police machinery have procured sophisticated weapons and have been given advance training especially in the wake of the 26/11 terror attacks, the state Home Guards have been consistently ignored.
Said a senior Home Guards officer, "We assist the police in maintaining law and order, but we cannot fight terrorists with lathis."
The 2,700 Home Guards have just 380 guns between them and most are in bad shape seldom oiled or maintained.
20 years ago
Said an officer, "Twenty years ago, the Home Guards would get 50 rounds each for target practice, but the ammunition supply has completely dried up since.
Not a single Home Guard in service now has ever used a gun. They only know how to load and unload a gun, but that too without bullets."
The Home Guards officer added, "While the Mumbai police are being trained in handling and firing sophisticated MP-5, carbine and SLR rifles, Home Guards recruits are only shown the weapons."
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