Stacks of A-4 size paper sit in the cabin of the Assistant Commissioner of Police at the Mambalam police station. These papers were acquired as part of a barter system: New papers for old documents that have outlived their use. The old documents are being recycled.
T. Nagar Police District which consists of 11 police stations, including those in Mambalam, Pondy Bazaar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, Valasaravakkam and Ashok Nagar, seems to be doing this exercise diligently.
“After making sure that sets of old documents are not required anymore, through thorough scrutiny, they are set aside for recycling. A system is also in place to collect such documents,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police — DCP (T. Nagar), S. Aravindan.
It may be recalled that a government order (GO) was passed many years ago directing all police stations in the State to identify old records including documents and CDs that are no longer needed and destroy them after obtaining permission to do so from the superintendent of police (SPs) in each district. The process of eliminating old documents has to be in line with the guidelines specified in the GO. According to one of the guidelines, the old documents should be torn into pieces to prevent misuse of any information.
The GO was brought back from oblivion in September 2017 when City Police Commissioner, A.K. Viswanathan directed all police stations in the Greater Chennai to identify such documents and destroy through a safe recycling process.
Accordingly, a team of police personnel headed by T. Maheshwari, Inspector, All Women Police Station, T. Nagar, was formed in September last year by DCP S. Aravindan to track old records.
The head-constable in each of the 11 police stations was given the task of identifying such records over the last decade and beyond. Each of the documents to be identified had a shelf life of not more than two years. For example, the village roster has a retention period of only two years.
And, general police diaries, notebooks of police station and general memos have a retention period of only one year.
Further, a police station also receives hundreds of written complaints every month. All these unwanted papers are just dumped in the records room of every station and occupy valuable space.
Between September and November 2017, the T. Nagar police district generated 16,890 kilograms of old records from its 11 stations.
Subsequently, the entire stock of 16,890 kgs of old records were sold to Karur-based Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) for a value of Rs 2.18 lakh.
TNPL gave fresh stock of A-4 sized papers equivalent to the value of the old records. The fresh stock of papers were distributed among 11 police stations.
K.K. Nagar, Ashok Nagar and Teynampet stood first, second and third in terms of the amount of old records that were contributed. And they received a corresponding amount of fresh papers.
