At the Periyar junction in Mangadu on Poonamallee-Kundrathur Main Road, a lean and tall and nattily-dressed S. Anbazhagan, a sub-inspector with the Mangadu police, is sitting in a plastic chair and flipping through a Tamil newspaper. In the foreground, his patrolling jeep is parked. Behind Anbazhagan, a police constable who drives the patrol vehicle, is in a conversation with a resident.
For a decade now, a police patrol team operates from a small open hut that serves as a police booth. This hut also doubles as a coconut shop.
Located on the footpath of the stretch, from this makeshift police booth, the patrol team goes to other parts of the neighbourhood based on calls made by residents to the police control room at the Chennai Police Commissionarate in Vepery.
The patrol vehicle is fitted with wireless devices and a hand-held walkie-talkie to alert the policemen about these calls.
“As we can’t wait in the open, we have this hut which serves as a halting point. If there are chairs and table, we have to safeguard them. As we are on the move, we don’t have any meed for these,” says Anbazhagan.
This hut of a police booth is in striking contrast with most police booths these days, which not only have all the basic facilities but also CCTV surveillance systems to make the job of the police personnel easier.
Besides poor infrastructure, the Mangadu police are also battling the problem of manpower shortage.
Of the sanctioned strength of 40 policemen, the Mangadu police has only 15 on duty now. Despite lacking in manpower, the Mangadu police covers a vast area, Nazarathpet near Poonamallee to airport and Pallavaram.
Though these policemen belong to the law & order wing, they also monitor the flow of traffic at the busy Periyar Salai junction on Poonamallee – Kundrathur High Road and step in to unravel any traffic knots. This road provides connectivity between the western outskirts and the central parts of the city. As the junction is poorly illuminated, surveillance at night is a challenge to the police.
