Police station in place of public toilet

CHENNAI, JAN 5: It was a building meant to be a public toilet, but it has been turned into a police station. The Rotary Nagar D9 police st...

CHENNAI, JAN 5: It was a building meant to be a public toilet, but it has been turned into a police station. The Rotary Nagar D9 police station, near the Marina Beach area off Karajar Salai, which was commissioned after Chief Minister M Karunanidhi made an announcement in the previous Assembly session that seven new police stations were to be opened in the state, does not by any means deserve to be where it is. There is not even a board near the police station.

Police personnel often have difficulty in bringing in suspects or complainants to the station as they refused to believe that the old building was a police station, as the station gate just reads “Corporation of Chennai”. Moreover, the police station is off its jurisdictional area.

Nearly 35 policemen are on the rolls in the station. Two inspectors and six sub-inspectors are among those on rolls currently and the strength of the station is soon to be increased to 60. Of the two floors in the building, the first floor was never used since the dayit was commissioned fearing that “it would collapse any moment”, sources said.

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The police station jurisdiction covers the beach area and the area east off Kamaraj Salai. However, the station had been commissioned in Rotary Nagar which is on the opposite side of these areas.

The station had been commissioned with a view to curb “minor clashes” between two slums in the neighbourhood which however, does not fall under its limits.

The station, does not have a telephone or any other means of communication with other stations, and police personnel have to go personally to other stations after covering their regular beats’.

“None of the three rooms on the ground floor has a fan and the officials do not wish to steam inside the station”, sources say.

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“The biggest worry of the cops in the station is that the corporation has decided to construct a new toilet in the vicinity.” The cops are worried that the stench will make it difficult for them to function from the building.