Decks have been cleared for merging some areas under the jurisdiction of the Madurai district police with the city police to make the city police limits co-terminus with expanded Madurai Corporation. .
The hiccups in transfer of police personnel along with whole or part of police stations have been resolved. “We have already transferred police personnel in and out of those stations that are to be merged with the city police,” an officer said.
The district police, in consultation with the city police, had planned to make the merger official on December 1, 2014 after having finalised the number of officers, policemen, vehicles, arms, buildings and communication equipment to be transferred.
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However, the decision was postponed at the eleventh hour after a section of policemen raked up the transfer issue.
“It was said that a section of the disgruntled police personnel was about to raise the issue through MLAs in the Assembly. Hence, the decision was deferred to avoid any embarrassment to the government in the Assembly,” a police officer said.
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The officials found that the transfer of policemen from the city Armed Reserve to the city taluk police, considered to be an elevation, had been done only till the 2003 batch. In the rural district, police personnel of even 2008 batch of the Armed Reserve had been transferred to the district police unit.
Undue advantage“This meant that junior police personnel in the district police will have an advantage over their senior counterparts in the city with a gap of up to five years in seniority. This issue has now been sorted out,” a police source said.
“It is now only a matter of time for the merger to take place,” the officer said.