Every morning, 55-year-old K. Sethuraman, a resident of Thiruvanmiyur, travels a few kilometres from his house to drop his daughter at the MRTS station in Perungudi. He avoids the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS station, though it is close to where he lives, because he feels it is poorly illuminated and looks almost deserted at certain times of the day. Sethuraman can soon save himself the trouble of riding all the way to Perungudi as a new police station attached to the Government Railway Police (GRP) would soon come up at the Thiruvanmiyur MTRTS station.
Along with Mambalam railway station, the Thiruvanmiyur railway station would have a dedicated team of police personnel with a separate building and other infrastructure facilities. Currently, the public works department (PWD) has undertaken the construction of a police station on the space provided by the Southern Railway at the MRTS station in Thiruvamiyur.
“The work on the new police station at Thiruvanmiyur is being fast-tracked. However, as a temporary measure, before the opening of the permanent police station there, a team of 10 police personnel would be permanently stationed at the station soon to provide safety to commuters,” said a GRP officer.
At the Mambalam railway station, the Southern Railway is identifying a suitable space for the GRP police personnel so that they could be permanently lodged there. Initially, each of these two police stations would have at least 10 police personnel. Later, the total strength of the police personnel would be increased depending on the requirement. At present, GRP police from Egmore cover the entire southern suburban track up to Meenambakkam railway station covering at least 10 railway stations including crime-prone stations like Saidapet and Chetpet.
Given the vastness of the area, ensuring safety of commuters and preventing crime have become a Herculean task.
As a result, the GRP police at Egmore are overstretched, resulting in low crime prevention rate.
Every month, on an average, at least 40 persons die on the tracks between Egmore and Meenambakkam railway stations.
“Greater presence of cops would give a sense of security to commuters because most of the MRTS stations are poorly managed,” said S. Varalakshmi, a resident of Taramani.
To bring more efficiency, GRP police at Mambalam would have jurisdiction over the tracks between Kodambakkam and Meenambakkam stations while the GRP police at Egmore would have limits up to Kodambakkam.
Similarly, GRP police at Thiruvanmiyur MRTS railway station would have jurisdiction up to Chindatripet railway station.
“Bifurcation would lead to better policing and crime prevention. Further, the need for a separate police station was felt at Thiruvanmiyur due to the presence of IT companies,” said a GRP officer.
