In a first, the Chennai police will develop a database of tenants in the city.
The elaborate exercise of collecting details of tenants from landlords is set to commence in a couple of days. Commissioner of Police S. George said the initiative comes in the wake of recent incidents that had necessitated knowledge of tenants’ identities.
“We are trying to emulate the model of the Delhi police. The landlord has to update the details of tenants at the local police station. The database will be computerised and made accessible to senior police officers; it is more like a tenants’ directory,” he said.
Referring to the Puttur (in Andhra Pradesh) incident where the local people had no knowledge that terror suspects, who were later apprehended by the police, had moved into a small house, Mr. George said the permanent addresses of tenants would be verified even if they were from other States. “Filled-in pro-forma, containing basic details of the tenants, will be obtained from the landlords. Besides ascertaining the address/identity claims, we will also come to know of their antecedents.”
Mr. George made it clear there would be no hindrance posed to landlords in their right to choose tenants and decide on rental conditions. “We only want to know who is living where. The objective is to make the neighbourhood safe. Dedicated teams will be formed to carry out the exercise that will be an ongoing process,” he said.
Chennai city police has jurisdiction over 745 sq. km. covered by 135 police stations. An estimated 85 lakh people live in the city. This includes a large number of construction workers, IT professionals, patients, students and others who have moved in from different parts of the country.
