ADGP to be spl officer at suburban Commissionerate

The move to bring back suburban police Commissionerate for Chennai has gained steam with the Home Department deciding to appoint an Additional Director General of Police as special officer to finalise the jurisdictional boundaries and other administrative matters, sources said.

The decision to bifurcate the city police Commissionerate is expected to be announced soon by the government.

“Unlike last time, the new suburban Commissionerate may have a bigger jurisdiction and may include a few more police stations like Kelambakkam and Vandalur from neighbouring districts,” sources familiar with the matter said. Chennai airport may remain within the city police limit, sources added.

It may be noted that the city police Commissionerate was bifurcated in 2008, during the previous DMK regime. Senior officer SR Jangid, since retired, was appointed as the first Commissioner at that time. However, the arrangement was short-lived. When the AIADMK came back to power in 2011, the suburban Commissionerate was merged with Chennai city police.

Senior officers claimed that bifurcation was needed because of large jurisdictional area. Citing the examples of Mumbai and Hyderabad, where there are two Commissionerates, they said such a split would help improve administration.

Currently, the Greater Chennai police has 12 police districts and over 130 law and order police stations, besides traffic and all-women stations.