Ulsoor police station sports swanky interiors

Ulsoor police station sports swanky interiors

The Hindu

Work was initiated when S. Mariswamy was the city police chief

BANGALORE: The 31-year-old Ulsoor police station might look the same from outside. But step inside and be prepared for hi-tech interiors, complete with glistening tiles, spacious rooms, a big parking area and provision for data networking and voice cabling that would make computerisation easy. In three months, the old, dingy building has undergone a complete change.

Remodelled by Sasken Communication Technologies, the station was formally opened on Monday by Sasken chief executive officer Rajiv Mody and city Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh. With a brand new station and an "inspiring" infrastructure in place, Mr. Singh hoped the Ulsoor police and the city police in general would now show a change in attitude towards the petitioners, complainants, visitors and even criminals. "We need to show a positive attitude," he said.

A public-private partnership project, the remodelling was initiated by the former city Police Commissioner, S. Mariswamy, who is now Director-General of Police (Fire Services). "Most of our police stations still feature dark corridors and have broken furniture. Part of the negative image of the police today is due to the buildings and infrastructure," felt Mr. Mariswamy, who was also present at the function. In all, 22 police stations were being remodelled across the city, he said.

He said a police station should be welcoming "like a plaza, where people are not deterred. We had placed double light structures in the Kengeri and Upparpet stations to make them more open. It is part of an open office concept with less walls and more transparency. It is high time, the Government realises this and changes the structure of buildings and other infrastructure," he said.

Mr. Mody said the remodelling project was part of Sasken's social responsibility initiatives. "We need to provide proper infrastructure for our people to perform better and efficiently. If we in the IT sector can work better with good infrastructure, the same can be expected from our police force too," he said.

The remodelled station has a spacious work area and a unique "skylight" structure on its first floor to enable efficient transmission of natural light. The station also features innovative retrofitting techniques and vitrified tile flooring. Fireproof doors and windows with noise and heat insulation properties add another dimension to the station building, which also has separate interrogation, armour, records and lock-up rooms.