Chennai: Forced to sleep on pavement, claim police constables
CHENNAI: Photos of a few police constables made to sleep on a roadside pavement in front of a luxury hotel went viral on Tuesday.An audio accompanying the photos said these policemen had to sleep an entire night on the roadside because they were assigned security of a delegation from UK and no arrangements were made for their accommodation. The foreign delegate was in the city on Thursday and presumably the incident is believed to have taken place then.
However, senior officers in the Armed Reserve claimed the photos were old and the audio was an outburst of anger when the personnel’s ego was bruised by the hotel staff. The audio recording apparently made by a policeman narrated the”pathetic” conditions in which policemen were made to work. In the audio, he said, “We reached the hotel in the afternoon for bandobast duty and the VIP told us that security was not needed. However, our senior officers insisted that we stayed back in the hotel. We agreed, but we were not given accommodation to take rest and the hotel staff told us that there was no request from the department, hence the required facilities cannot be provided.”
“However, a senior Armed Reserve officer said, “Only three personnel were sent. In the evening, the delegate had asked the personnel to wait downstairs. As the personnel were seated in the lobby, the staff in the hotel asked them to wait outside the campus. Meanwhile, one of the personnel called up his senior officer and informed him about this. As the officer was talking to the hotel staff making arrangements for a room for them, one of the personnel in anger sent an audio to his friend.”
The officer also added that “the photos are old because on March 8 only three personnel were sent, but whereas in the picture there are more than five personnel. Usually, we make sure that the personnel are provided with both proper accommodation and food.”