Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Police launch `Meet the People'

Staff Reporter

GIVING A PATIENT HEARING: Inspector-General of Police, West Zone, K. Rajendran, listening to a petitioner at Kavundampalayam near the city on Wednesday. - Photo: M. Periasamy

Coimbatore: The Inspector-General of Police, West Zone, K. Rajendran, on Wednesday interacted with petitioners in six police station limits as part of the `Meet the People' programme launched in seven districts in the West Zone.

The project is aimed at getting closer to the people and changing the image of the police. The exercise also looked to change the `rigid' image of the police that reportedly kept people from visiting police stations for a problem, said Mr. Rajendran. "We will visit you at your door step and bring papers for you to write your petitions, is the message through this scheme," he said.

It was proposed to visit 16,272 villages and 9,566 educational institutions in a week. Before November 16, a team of seven Superintendents of Police, Additional Superintendents of Police, Deputy Superintendents of Police, 220 Inspectors and 650 sub-inspectors would visit the areas and receive petitions. Officers were instructed to receive petitions irrespective of whether they pertained to police matters. Similar exercises were conducted at the Nilgiris, Erode, Coimbatore Rural, Namakkal, Salem Rural, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts by the SPs.

The Police visited 1,500 places, met 37,000 people and received 6,000 petitions on the first day on Wednesday itself across seven districts.

On Wednesday, the IG, along with the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Coimbatore Range, M.N. Manjunatha, and the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural District, A.T. Duraikumar, met over 1,500 petitioners at Kavundampalayam, Thudiyalur, NGGO Colony, Narashimanaickenpalayam, Periyanaickenpalayam and Veerapandi.

The IG, who listened to a number of grievances, received close to 800 petitions. Only ten to fifteen per cent of them pertained to police-related issues while other petitions largely related to drainage, garbage, land site pattas, old page pension or financial assistance for widows and flood havoc. Respective Superintendents of Police have been asked to take up petitions relating to non-police issues with authorities concerned. The petitioners were told that the police were willing to visit the places even once in three months to sort out recurring issues, he said.

The statistics relating to number of people met, petitions received including those relating to non-police issues would be collected on a daily basis for the next one week, and action initiated, he said.

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