Members of minority communities not properly represented in police, DDA: report

People of minority communities constitute a small percentage, not more than 5 per cent, in Delhi Police, DDA and even in departments such as transport and tourism, a government report has said. The Delhi Minorities Commission has shared the findings in its annual report (2015-16), which was submitted on Wednesday to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who promised action based on the recommendations.

Under the head ‘Representation of Minorities in Government Services’, the report said only 2,993 personnel of the 77,397 member-strong Delhi Police belong to the minority communities, which comes to around 3.8 per cent. Out of the 6,031 employees of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), 295 are minorities while only 32 employees out of 741 working with the Delhi Tourism and Transportation belong to the minority communities.

The corresponding percentages come to around 4.8 and 4.3 per cent. However, there was confusion around figures related to Delhi Metro in this regard. DMRC termed as “incorrect” the report’s claim that out of its “80,683 employees, 282 belong to minority communities”.“The figure is not correct. We have around 8,500 regular employees and even if we add the contractual staff the number would not be that large,” a DMRC official said.

An official of the Commission said it will take into account metro’s version and bring about the necessary corrections if required.“There should be a sense of security among minorities. But the report paints a dismal picture. We need to found out whether it is deliberate or on grounds of merit. Either ways, we need to take action and it has to be fixed. The recommendations will be studied and steps taken,” Sisodia told reporters.

Delhi Minority Commission was set up as a statutory body by an enactment called Delhi Minority Commission Act 1999 and its chairman is Qamar Ahmad, who handed over the report to Sisodia. Functions of the Commission are related to the six notified communities based on religion and these are Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Buddhist and Jain.