Stung by severe criticism following Wednesday’s serial armed strikes at fuel bunks in and around the state capital, police here have woken up to the urgent need of bolstering all the 32 thana outposts, besides adhering to the standard protocol of blocking escape routes and intensifying patrolling in the event of a crime.

SSP Anish Gupta, who inspected several outposts on Saturday, found at least 12 grappling with inadequate manpower and infrastructure.

“Additional manpower and better infrastructure will be provided to all the 32 thana outposts on priority basis. The posts will be equipped with wireless sets to enable faster communication and action. We want outposts to effectively function as mini-thanas. Hence, a station diary will be provided to each for registering of complaints,” Gupta said.

Currently, most outposts are manned by barely one or two cops instead of a sanctioned strength of 8-10 led by a sub-inspector. They do not have vehicles, which defeats the very purpose of opening an outpost in a strategic location for quick response. Many of the buildings housing these outposts are crumbling and need urgent repairs.

“Frequent transfer of officers and jawans over the years has led to the miserable strength at thana outposts. It doesn’t have facilities like a regular police station. There are some posts where only one jawan is deployed. In short, available manpower and infrastructure are below minimum requirement,” said an officer of Ranchi police.

One of the key outposts in Upper Bazaar, set up on the request of traders, is a pathetic excuse for a crime prevention establishment. The state of the Morabadi town outpost is no different.

“Along with state police jawans, personnel of Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) are deployed. But, SAP is only meant to provide security to the outpost. Role and responsibilities of outposts need to be redefined,” the officer said.

Two armed men on a sports bike had managed to clean out cash from three fuel bunks — one in Dhurwa and two in Tupudana — in a span of fours hours on Wednesday because police failed to follow the standard protocol of nakabandi or sealing of escape routes following the first strike.

Between the loot in Dhurwa and the first one in Tupudana, police had more than three hours to seal Ranchi’s borders and launch extensive patrolling. But, insiders concede that the men in uniform were “so focussed on the Dhurwa case” that it didn’t occur to them that the bikers might strike again.

Let alone nakabandi, no neighbouring police station was put on alert. This is where revamped thana outposts are expected to fill the gap.