Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Police force is all set to buy 2,000 fibre batons at a cost of Rs 30 lakh. It has also been decided to buy 64 barricades for Rs 16 lakh.
Demands have been raised for sturdy batons with a three-year warranty. Polycarbonate batons procured three years ago had snapped, triggering a row.
The fibre batons would be provided to the force within three months. A tender has been invited for this. The batons will be distributed between AR camps and police stations.
Most of the batons used in the force are made of bamboo. The cops tried to use plastic batons for a while, but this attempt had failed.
Polycarbonate batons were procured from north Indian companies in 2017. However, these created problems and often snapped. Thus, the batons that were bought for lakhs of rupees were moved to the police camps.
The police usually wield the baton (or lathi) to disperse a group of protesters or an unruly crowd.
