As one drives through R.K. Salai and the Beach Road, towards the Secretariat in the morning, one can see weary looking police personnel standing in the hot sun for hours together. They are on bandobast duty.
After this ordeal, they get back to their usual work of cracking murder and burglary cases, giving security for a religious festival, sitting in the mortuary for long hours or participating in a drill. The fatigued policemen now say they will be happy if the government forms a special team exclusively for bandobast and for processions.
“We seldom get time to spend with our families and friends,” complains a police constable. September was especially horrible for them. “It all started with Global Investors Meet followed by Operation Hamla and then Vinayaka Chathurthi and the idol immersion. There was no break for us,” he adds.
Most policemen claim that they have either high blood pressure or diabetes. “As such, handling a law and order situation or cracking a murder or burglary case creates enough stress. The bandobast duty worsens the situation as one has to stand in the sun for hours together. Many don’t complain out of fear and they vent their anger on the public,” adds another policeman.
They feel that the home guard and youth brigade can be used for bandobast . “We can focus more on crime prevention,” he adds.
Ideas for the
beat patrol
The introduction of the beat patrol team of the Chennai City Police may have brought down crimes but they could still play a more proactive role in averting certain incidents. Social activists in south Chennai are happy that crimes such as harassment of women, theft and chain snatching are on the decline. However, residents and social activists in north Chennai point out the beat patrol team could have prevented the death of Ajay by curbing unauthorised sale of maanja.
The death of the child, who was killed by a dangling maanja thread on September 27, is one instance where the beat patrol team, by taking broader steps of intensive inspection in the slum tenements, could have prevented the accident.
A social activist, who saw a patrol team destroying kite and maanja near Mangalapuram on September 17, said knowing that this season is conducive for flying kites, checks should be undertaken by bigger police teams in playgrounds and slum tenements. Also, if they had created awareness about the ban of using maanja for flying kites, the accident could have been prevented, he added.
A senior official of the Chennai City Police said the beat patrol team not only have to sign the patta book (beat patrol register) but also have to produce a report of the happenings during their inspection. Though this particular incident of a beat patrol team destroying kite and maanja was not reported, normally the patrol team reports all the incidents they come across, he added.
( Reporting by Vivek Narayanan and R. Srikanth )
