Nedumkandam: The local people have decided to provide the basic infrastructural facilities for a new police station to start functioning at Udumbanchola. They have formed a committee headed by Udumbanchola panchayat president Sasikala Murukesan for the purpose and entrusted the AE with the task of preparing an estimate.
Funds for renovating an old police station building constructed back in 1936 will be collected from the public and voluntary organisations by the committee. The structure of the old building will be retained but its roof will be modified, the floor re-laid with tiles and new doors and windows replaced.
Meanwhile, the panchayat president said that stone for a new building is expected to be laid by May 15. The plan is to build a modern facility near the old building after the police station starts functioning.
Administrative sanction for a new police station based at Udumbanchola was received following the intervention of electricity minister M M Mani. As many as 49 new posts of police personnel were also created. At present, Udumbanchola boasts of only a police station outpost. The new facility will be the 30th police station in Idukki district. The proposal in this regard was forwarded from the division of the Munnar DySP.
The need for a new police station was felt after Intelligence officers reported that ganja and drugs mafia was tightening its grip in the area. Moreover, the crime rate at Udumbanchola, a plantation area, has been steadily rising in recent years. Cardamom plantations here employ the highest number of labourers from other states. Collecting the details of these migrants had been a tough task for the police. It is expected that with the opening of a new police station, things will be easier for the law enforcers.
Alcoholism as well as brewing and sales of hooch are rampant in the plantations. The new police station will also help deal with such issues effectively.
District police authorities feel that as the police quarters already exist near the site of the new station, work will proceed without delay. Although the police outpost in the area has its own building, it lacks several facilities, which spurred the local people to form a committee for the new construction.
Read: Idukki News | Kerala News