The jurisdiction of Tiruchi City Police Commissionerate is likely to expand if the State government gives its approval for a a new police station proposed at Uyyakondan Thirumalai.
If the proposal gets the nod, it will increase the number of police stations falling within the Commissionerate to 15.
Commissioner of Police A. Arun told The Hindu on Tuesday that a proposal to create the new police station had been forwarded to the State government for approval. It would be created by merging some areas under Woraiyur and Somarasampettai police stations.
The Somarasampettai police station on the city border is under the control of Tiruchi Rural Police, while the Woraiyur police station is under the Commissionerate.
The move comes at a time when there is a plan to increase the limits of Tiruchi Corporation by incorporating neighbouring villages on the city's outskirts. The areas between Woraiyur and Somarasampettai have seen a proliferation of residential localities over the years.
At present, the Commissionerate has under its limits 14 police stations: Fort, Gandhi Market, Palakkarai, Cantonment, E. Pudur, Sessions Court, K.K. Nagar, Goldenrock, Ariyamangalam, Airport, Srirangam, Woraiyur, Government Hospital and Thillai Nagar. Barring Sessions Court and the Government Hospital police stations, the remaining police stations are manned by Inspector of Police.
It also has four All Women Police stations at Cantonment, Srirangam, Fort and Golden Rock with each of them headed by a woman Inspector of Police besides Traffic Investigation Units.
Tiruchi district has two separate police establishments: Tiruchi City Police Commissionerate headed by an Inspector General of Police and Tiruchi Rural Police headed by a Superintendent of Police. The territorial limits of Tiruchi Rural Police is vast and covers 30 police stations. Several areas on the city's periphery, including Tiruverumbur, Somarasampettai, Navalpattu, Kollidam, Bikshandarkoil and Mutharasanallur, come under it.
In 2012, the Tiruchi City Expansion Committee was constituted to work out modalities to bring certain peripheral areas within the ambit of Tiruchi City Police Commissionerate to expand its territorial limits. Discussions were held between Tiruchi City Police and Tiruchi Rural Police to identify areas that could be annexed to Tiruchi Police Commissionerate under the proposed expansion plan.
A host of aspects such as population, approachability and access to the city, road coverage and volume of traffic were taken into account prior to finalising the plan. The committee recommended that the police stations at Manikandam, Ramji Nagar, Somarasampettai, Tiruverumbur, Kollidam, Navalpattu and BHEL and the areas falling under their limits be attached with the City Police Commissionerate.
Consequent to the panel’s recommendations, a detailed proposal mentioning the extra manpower required was compiled and forwarded by the then Police Commissioner to the Office of the Director General of Police for approval from the State government. However, that plan failed to take off.
