An unusual practice that has recently been put in place for personnel attached to the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) has left a section of them baffled.
Every day, a team of 4-5 personnel are required to trudge all the way from Fort St. George to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s residence on Greenways Road as ‘walking duty’.
On days when the CM is visiting the party headquarters on Avvai Shanmugam Salai, or expected somewhere else, they are required to scout that route by walk before the CM’s vehicle drives past it. Armed with a prodder and a hand-held metal detector (HHMD), personnel dressed in civilian clothes begin walking at least 2-3 hours before Mr. Palaniswami's vehicle is scheduled to pass along the route.
“The routine is repeated in the evening, too. There is no logic in what we are doing. What is the use of such walk, especially when we prod places three hours before he [the CM] passes through the road? After we leave, having made our markings, no one is in charge of the place!” rues a member of the BDDS.
He claims that such a practice is not in place anywhere in the country, and it was not so even when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was alive.
“We are being discriminated against because we are not regular policemen but ex-servicemen who have been recruited as technicians in the police for our technical expertise. We don’t even have sufficient equipment, other than the prodder and the HHMD,” the personnel claimed.
In addition to the CM’s route, BDDS personnel are required to walk by the routes taken by VVIPs on their visit to the city. About 70 BDDS personnel are based in the city.
When asked about this, Deputy Commissioner E. T. Samson of the Chennai Security Force said that it was not just one team that was tasked with the walk — 3-4 teams were sharing the work. He also dismissed claims that personnel had only a prodder and an HHMD handy.
“I am personally supervising the work and all the equipment,” Mr. Samson added.
