Two Gudiyatham police stations to get separate buildings after four decades of shared space

Nearly half a century after they moved in to a shared building in the early 1980s, the British-era Gudiyatham town and taluk police stations in Vellore are finally set to get permanent premises. The Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation (TNPHC) will soon begin work on constructing separate buildings for both police stations.

The initiative comes after Superintendent of Police, A. Myilvaganan, inspected two police stations and reviewed their functioning including registration of cases and its disposal a few days ago. “The existing police stations have stood on government land for many years. A new Taluk police station will be built slightly away from the town so that complainants from neary villages can access it more easily. M. Mangayarkkarasan, Commissioner, Gudiyatham Municipality, told The Hindu.

Municipal officials said that Gudiyatham taluk and town police stations have been operating from a damaged building since September 1981 when they moved in together from separate rented premises in the town. Since then, they have worked side by side under leaking roofs, with broken cupboards, poor ventilation, and little space to move around.

Despite the rundown conditions, the Gudiyatham Taluk police received the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Trophy for the Best Police Station award in 2020, awarded in 2022. It was the only station in the district , which has 33 in total, to earn the recognition.

Among the two, the Gudiyatham town police station is the older one, established in 1910, while the taluk station was formed later after bifurcating it from the Pernambut police over four decades ago.

Together, they have a total strength of 75 police personnel, including 47 constables covering 151 village. The town’s key occupations include farming, weaving, beedi rolling and shoe manufacturing, all of which needs steady police monitoring. Areas indentifies as crime prone are Dharmapet, Sunnambupet, Rajakoil, Bhuvaneshwaripet, Thattaparai and Sengundram.

According to the plan, the new buildings will accommodate all three section- law and order, crime and traffic. It will also have a spacious waiting hall, office room, separate cabin for inspectors, records room, a strong room for arms and ammunition, lock ups and rest rooms.

Separate rest areas will be available for police personnel, including women constables. The entire premises will be equipped with CCTV cameras, rooftop solar panels for power efficiency and modern rainwater harvesting system.