Chennai: A board displayed from local police station on the gates of a playground at K.K Nagar objecting the entry of outsiders after 7 pm has stirred a controversy, with many accusing the welfare association and local police of discrimination. However, cops narrate a different tale as they said that the move was embraced, only after witnessing a hike in crime rate in the locality.
The gates of the playground at the 6th Sector, K.K Nagar, which is located close to MGR Nagar slum, is fixed with a board with a rule list: No outsiders are allowed to play, timings are fixed as 5 am to 9 am and 4.30 pm to 8.30 pm, has created a stir, with the slum residents accusing the cops of discrimination. The timings vary to outsiders as the exit time is fixed at 7 pm. It has the contact details of the R7 police station, indicating that the police are part of it.
President of 6th sector resident welfare association, M. S. A. Razack said, “The ground, which was left open for all, has become a hub for anti-social elements. Outsiders often passed lewd comments on walkers, especially women.”
Echoing the same, sub-inspector of R7 police station said, “There has been incidents of chain snatching and ragging. It is to prevent these, that we came up with such rules.”
Outsiders are asked about their residence details to shoo them away, if they are not following the new rules. The 25-year-old playground does not serve its vital purpose as residents are asked not to play and cycle. “A large section of women and senior citizens are not comfortable to walk, when people played. We had come up with the board 15 days ago and are seeing significant changes since then,” Razack added.
Condemning the stringent measures, V Gopalakrishnan, an RTI activist and a local resident, said, “Anti-social elements are common in all public places. It is unfortunate that the police station took a conservative route to tackle it, rather than beefing up the security by installing CCTV cameras.”
