Kerala Police: Cops ask for land near to Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala state police have requested the state government to allocate land for a permanent structure near the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. At present the many control rooms and other security arrangements for the temple have been put together hastily and the 233 policemen deployed to guard the treasures lay their head wherever they find space. Fort police station is the nearest point where members of the force can assemble should there be an emergency situation. "We were caught unaware with the request for such a large security arrangement. There was very little time for weighing the pros and cons; a whole new high-security set-up was put together in a matter of days. But we realise that this is going to be a permanent fixture and the police must be given space closer to the temple," said IG Padmakumar.

For now the temple has given the police a few rooms at the north entrance, which is presently being used by DCP temple Sanal Kumar and his team. The eight rooms above his quarters will be occupied to store materials like the new consignment of security cameras that will be used to monitor movement inside and outside the temple. "We are grateful to the Temple Trust and the authorities for allotting these rooms to us but eight rooms are not good enough to store all the goods and monitoring stations," said DGP Jacob Punnose.

The government will also soon get a (what-the-police-is-calling) 'wish-list' of the state-of-the-art security apparatus which includes scanners ( both hand-held and mounted), arms and ammunition, CCTV sets etc, which is being prepared after consulting with security experts. The police have also requested for vehicles for round-the-clock patrolling. "Phase one of moving toward a permanent security arrangement involves vehicles and infrastructure. We have two vans and two motorcycles patrolling the Fort area 24X7, but we want that number to be increased to eight vans and eight motorcycles. A letter was sent to the state government yesterday requesting for land, to set up a permanent control room and other facilities. We have already asked the government for more vehicles and it should be included in the force shortly," said City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham.

"The police want the government to allot land between a 100 and 200 meter radius of the temple because the cameras and other equipment will be wired and the cables cannot be stretched further away. Stretching the wires will increase the risk as unmanned sections can be sabotaged. So it is imperative to find a building close to the temple," said an analyst (who did not wish to be named) working with the Police to secure the Temple area. The analyst said that his team has identified a structure near the temple, which could serve the purpose but it is a heritage property and making changes to a heritage property will involve permissions on various levels. "The government must consider asking the temple trust to identify a property that they are not putting to "good use" and lease it out; after all we are rowing the same boat", he said.