Kalmunai Police to expand security fence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 1999, 12:48 GMT]
The Police commission has requested District Secretary M. Faleel to grant permission to expand the security fence around the Kalmunai Police Station into land belonging to Kalmunai District Council which lies adjacent to the Police station, sources said.

It is learnt that on Thursday April 8th, Police Officers have inspected the proposed expansion site.

Employee Welfare Committees expressed concern that such expansion will place severe space limitation to the movement of District Council employees and will infringe on the employees' freedom of movement.

The Kalmunai Police set a bad precedent by its occupation of the town's biggest Public Library and the surrounding land owned by the District Council from 1990. Since the public feared to venture near that part of the town, even the nearby private bus stand has become deserted, sources said.

Not only all the attempts to reclaim the Library from the Police Commission proved futile but even the efforts to get the Commission to pay the rent for the property were also unsuccessful, sources pointed out.

In June the District Council is to be upgraded to Urban Council status. Public Groups point out that this will result in an increase in the number of employees which inturn will require additional space. In this scenario it is unreasonable to expect the District Council to hand over its land, they said.