THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Aruvikkara police station was opened on January 18 this year with the single intention of making policing more effective in the area. For this, places that came under the Kattakkada, Nedumangad and Aryanad police stations were carved out.
But the objective behind the move has been left unaccomplished as the Police Department is yet to obtain a contact number for the station.
Speaking to City Express, the Nedumangad DySP said that the lack of a contact number in the station was crippling its effective functioning. ”We managed to procure a temporary connection with only incoming facility. The expense was met from our own pockets. Now that number is not in use and the Government has not yet provided the land phone connection. It is really a difficult situation,” he said.
The police station was allotted to Aruvikkara owing to its strategic importance. The station is a stone’s throw away from the Aruvikkara Dam, the main source of water supply to the city. In addition to that, hundreds of tourists visit the place regularly.
But the police station was allotted sans basic infrastructure. The station is now functioning in a building which was used by the Kerala Water Authority as its canteen. But it is the lack of a contact number that has irked the public the most.
Aruvikkara sub-inspector Honey H L said that the public and the police were suffering owing to the lack of a telephone connection in the station. ”Now, people are calling my official mobile. But that poses problems for the public and me alike. For the public, remembering a 10-digit number is difficult, while for me, phone calls at times hamper my duty,’’ he said.
But the Police Department maintains that allotting a land phone requires time. The DySP said that the request for a land line had been forwarded to the Government. ”The request is now with the Finance Department. But I can’t say when it will be passed,” he said.