The police band in Adilabad is just an image of its glorious past, thanks to the retirement of almost all the veteran musicians. A crisis like situation due to en masse retirement of the instrument players was averted by taking in nine recently trained Constables, but the repertoire of the band is limited to just three marching tunes.
“It is like a stop gap arrangement,” observed Md. Fazaluddin, a retired clarinet player of the band. “The department needs to take interest in grooming it.”
The importance of the police band has decreased drastically in the last couple of years, evident from the fact that the musicians are deployed on civil policing duties throughout the year. “We only get two or three days before Republic Day, Independence Day, State Formation Day, or Police Commemoration Day to practice,” said the senior-most musician, Naitham Dev.
In 1984, the police band was 18 musicians strong, and the instruments that formed a part of it were the clarinet, euphonium, saxophone, baritone, tenor saxophone, trumpet, bass drum, side drum, and cymbal. The 11 musicians, which form a part of the band now, play only clarinet, baritone, trumpet, bass drum, and one side drum.
“We need at least 10 more musicians to restore our past glory,” said Madavi Sadanand, the second of the two veterans in the band. “We need more time for training,” he added, pointing out the measure by which old glory could be regained.
The instruments in the band are all outdated, said Mr. Fazluddin. “All these need to be replaced with new ones.”
