Police homeless in BIA

Police homeless in BIA

For want of a proper structure, they operate from Devanahalli Thana

Santosh Kumar RB. Bangalore

Despite an amount of Rs5 crore being allocated for the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) police station building, the construction work is yet to commence for want of a suitable piece of land near the airport, police said.
The BIAL, however, denied the police version and said they had allotted police a piece of land within the premises itself. Police said that the BIAL had earlier allotted a piece of land near the Trumpet Road, about 3.5 kilometres away from the airport. The police refused the land, stating that it was too far away from the airport, and demanded space within the BIA terminal or at least reasonably closer to the structure.
"The department had asked the BIAL to allot space within the terminal building or land close by for the police station. But the BIAL ignored our pleas," deputy commissioner of police (North-east) Basavaraj Malagatti said. He cited inconvenience to women passengers as the police's reason to turn down the land offered near the Trumpet Road. A Joint Legislature Committee headed by Dr Hemachandra Sagar, MLA, had also recommended that the police station should be located closer to the airport.
The state government had released Rs3 crore for the construction of the BIA police station three months ago. The BIAL also had chipped in, offering Rs2 crore to construct a police station conforming to international standards.
Currently the BIA police share the Devanahalli police station building, located five kilometres away from the airport. This distance from the airport prevents passengers from availing police aid.
The police are now operating from an outpost – as big as a kiosk – at the BIAL with deficient facilities.
"The BIApolice are currently operating from the Devanahalli police station. This is causing some inconvenience to the people. After space is allotted within the BIA terminal or land closer to it, we will shift our operations there," Malagatti said.