ears after the idea was first floated and more than a year after the Home Minister’s own announcement of the same, the State government on Wednesday announced that Technopark, and the Kazhakuttam police station, will be added to the City police limits.
These are currently under the jurisdiction of the Thiruvananthapuram Rural police. The decisions, taken during Wednesday’s State Cabinet meeting, also include approval for another long-pending demand – that for the creation of a new police circle with Pothencode to host the circle office.
Circles and constituents
According to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, 12 new posts will be created for the new circle. Apart from this, the existing Kazhakuttam Circle will be renamed as the Kazhakuttam-Technopark Circle and be added to the jurisdiction of the City police.
The revamp of the circle jurisdictions with the advent of the Pothencode Circle will see the Kazhakuttam-Technopark Circle include the Thumba police station as well, while the Pothencode Circle will have the Vattappara, Kadinamkulam and Mangalapuram police stations.
The Kilimanoor Circle will have the Kilimanoor and Pallickal police stations while the Venjarammoodu Circle will look over the Venjarammoodu and Pangode police stations.
The proposal to bifurcate the existing Kazhakuttam Circle, currently comprising four police stations, and to bring the Kazhakuttam police station under the City police limits, apart from creating a new circle in Pothencode, was in limbo for several years. This was despite long-standing demands from Technopark, citing severe lack of security to its employees, particularly women.
According to a senior police official, the City police, too, had moved proposals in 2011 and in early 2014 as well, suggesting that adding Kazhakuttam to the City police limits will enhance policing there.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had announced on May 29 last year, during a meeting at Technopark, that a decision had already been taken to add Kazhakuttam to the City police limits and that only procedural delays remained. These delays, going by Wednesday’s announcement, apparently took over 15 months to be sorted out.
The City police had moved proposals in 2011 and 2014, suggesting that Kazhakuttam be brought under its jurisdiction
