PANAMARAM: The hearts of 28 policemen at Panamaram station in Wayanad become heavy when they see it raining. It becomes heavier if it rains continuously for three or more days.
Not because they dislike rain. The entire roads to the police station get submerged and both the officials and common people have to rely on a boat to get to and out of the station.
Though the officials in the station have now completely adjusted themselves to the plight during the monsoon, they are worried what if something important happens within their jurisdiction. The Express team has witnessed the plight of the officers when we visited the site.
Anybody who wants to go the police station must park their vehicle near the office of the agriculture department at Panamaram. The roads are inundated afterwards. The police station is just about half-a-kilometre from there. But you cannot even go walking. The water levels are as high as eight feet.
How to get to the police station? Either you must call somebody at the police station to bring the boat or else you have to row a boat by themselves. When the Express team reached the spot, unfortunately, no boat was seen. A person standing there said the police officers have just gone to the station and you will have to wait till they return.
We waited there for more than half an hour to see a small fibre boat to come. The boat was rowed by two officers and could accommodate a total of six persons at a time. The officers took us to the station but it was a horrific journey. The officers, who do not know how to row a boat, were struggling and the boat went out-of-control sometimes. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the police station which was just 500 meters from the spot where we parked the car.
This is the life of the officials who are working at the station. “We are daily doing this. If you are lucky, the boat goes the way you want it to go. Else, it is very painstaking. None of us is trained in rowing. We do this out of necessity. They are no other ways,” said an official adding that the boat was supplied to them by the panchayat.
The entire premises of the police station are under water. If it continues to rain for one more day, the water will enter the station. According to them, Panamaram police station might be the only station in the state which might be facing this issue.
Moreover, the station is functioning in a rented building of the District Nirmithi Kendra. The state government has acquired land to construct police station nearby, but nothing has progressed so far. It is known that Rs 50 lakh was sanctioned in the last state budget for the construction of the police station, but nothing has materialised.
But Wayanad district police chief R Karuppsamy said there is nothing the department can do about this. “I know it is very difficult for the officers at the station. But it is the case with many of the buildings in Panamaram. It is heavily raining here. And since a police station is a notified building we cannot shift the office to a separate building even during this emergency,” he said adding that he needs to verify about the status of the project to construct a police station.