THE INDORE police and IMC are at loggerheads over the corporation’s proposal to develop 19,225 square meter of prime land - which at present houses the Central Kotwali police station, Mahila police station and provides accommodation for several senior police officers – into an open space, and the police have refused to budge citing security and other reasons.
Indore SP Anshuman Yadav, who was to decide on the matter, shot down the ambitious IMC proposal in his reply last week. Yadav has confirmed the department’s rejection of the proposal.
The IMC wanted to christen the open space as Atal Square and shift the two police stations and the police quarters to an area behind the Indore Press Club. The IMC’s logic was that an open space would decongest the traffic in the area and provide much-needed breathing space in the heart of the City. The open space would have had MTH Road, the Central Kotwali Road, Ranipura Main Road and Maharani Road as its boundary.
The IMC had proposed to provide 9,000 square meter of built-up area to the police department against the existing 8,800 square meter for the two police stations and also for the quarters occupied by police officials, of course, without any cost to the police. There are some private shops also, which the IMC planned to relocate. The IMC had plans to construct an ‘L’ shaped building for the police in the area that now houses a labour court, medical department’s stores, a school and some PWD quarters etc.
Apart from the natural inclination to resist shifting from a well-entrenched familiar base (not to mention the accommodation of two additional SPs), the police department’s objection stems from the fact that they were being cheated of their land. “The IMC is taking away 19,225 square meter of land from us and instead they are giving us only 6,100 square meter, which is one-third its original size,” a senior officer pointed out, and added, “a police station needs
adequate open space in front of it for various reasons, which the IMC plan fails to provide.”
Apart from the natural inclination to resist shifting from a well-entrenched familiar base (not to mention the accommodation of two additional SPs), the police department’s objection stems from the fact that they were being cheated of their land. “The IMC is taking away 19,225 square meter of land from us and instead they are giving us only 6,100 square meter, which is one-third its original size,” a senior officer pointed out, and added, “a police station needs
adequate open space in front of it for various reasons, which the IMC plan fails to provide.”
But, the main thrust of their argument is that the security of the police station and the area would be compromised. The police point out that the proposed police stations would be surrounded by private multi-storeyed buildings, which would be a constant security threat for their functioning since they house lock-ups and arms room etc.
Moreover, the area surrounding the present set-up was highly sensitive as it had a mixed population and as one police official pointed out, “the mere presence of the police stations and the official quarters acts as a deterrent for trouble makers.”