THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A new group comprising personnel from the Special Armed Police 5 Battalion (SAP 5 BN) and Kerala Armed Police 3 Battalion (KAP 3 BN) arrived on Wednesday to guard the immense wealth of the Sree Padmanabha Temple here.
The new guards assumed charge replacing the police personnel who were on duty in the temple till Monday. Twenty-seven police personnel of KAP 3 from Adoor and 33 from SAP were sheltered first in the barrack where the Quick Response Team of the temple security resides.
The former protection team was ordered to return following media reports about their miserable living conditions. The former team, consisting of 60 police personnel, who left for Adoor on Tuesday, had been forced to live in a hell-like situation and a few among them were affected with dengue.
The 60 men were living in a broken building with meagre facilities and poor sanitation. Twenty of them had gone on medical leave following various diseases. The fear of epidemics aggravated the situation.
Mayor Writes to CM
Mayor K Chandrika, in a letter to the Chief Minister on Wednesday, has asked for his immediate intervention to provide clean and healthy accommodation and facilities for the police officials appointed on duty at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple.
The letter was sent after she visited the place the police personnel were put up before the media had highlighted the mean conditions they were in and the fever-affected camp.
The Mayor was accompanied by Health officials of the Corporation and standing committee Chairpersons V S Padmakumar and S Pushpalatha.