CHENNAI: The Royapuram All Women Police Station (AWPS) in the city is in dire straits as the infrastructure of the building is collapsing. With broken ceilings, clogged toilets, and foul smell, the station makes duty extremely difficult for its eight policewomen, who are forced to visit houses nearby to use toilets.
“Several years ago, roots from a tree on the station premises blocked the drainage from the toilet and later intruded into the toilet, rendering it useless,” said a policewomen, who served in the station years ago.
One of the personnel at the station said complaints to the administration about the crumbling infrastructure fell on deaf ears. “We, therefore, had to find an alternative. Some of our colleagues stay nearby; we go to their houses to use the toilet,” said the personnel.
Advocate N Lalitha who used to visit the station often for cases said that the personnel avoid sitting near the entrance of the toilet door as foul smell fills the space. Another member from one of the Child Protection Units said: “There are no child-friendly rooms available in some AWPSs in the city. We mostly conduct inquiries at the Child Protection Office instead of the police station to avoid the collapsing infrastructure and the foul smell”
While AWPSs were introduced to handle cases related to children and women, the personnel expressed their concern that they are often diverted to bandobust and vehicle -checking duties from their already under-staffed station. “After returning to the station after duty on the field, we cannot even relax or use the toilet,” said a policewoman.
When Express contacted a senior officer from the headquarters, he said that every year, funds are allocated to either renovate or build new police stations and that they are doing it one by one. “We will look into the women police station issue and sort it out soon,” said the official.