Decades of ordeal by petitioners to travel long distances to file complaints have ended as British era Kadaladi police station has been bifurcated. The new police station at Athamangalam village near Kalasapakkam town in Tiruvannamalai was opened on Wednesday.The Kadaladi police station used to cover 87 villages. With the bifurcation, residents of 32 villages, such as Ayyampalayam, Salaimedu and Kidampalayam, can lodge a complaint at the new police station. “Apart from filing cases, it is difficult for people to keep a tab on the existing cases as we have to travel to the police station whenever they ask us to come. It was tiresome,” said V. Pasupathy, a farmer.Accompanied by Tiruvannamalai Collector K. Tharpagaraj and SP M. Sudhakar, Minister for Public Works and Highways E.V. Velu inaugurated the new police station. The new police station will be maintained by around 30 police personnel, including women constables. It will cover all three wings of the police — crime, law & order and traffic.Facilities providedThe new police station, which was built by the Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation (TNPHC), has a spacious waiting hall, office room, separate cabin for inspectors, records room, strong room to store arms and ammunition, lock ups and rest rooms. Separate rooms for police personnel to rest are also available. The entire premises has CCTV cameras with rooftop solar panels for power efficiency.The new police station also has a modern rainwater harvesting system.Regular patrollingThe police said that the district has 54 police stations, including 39 law and order stations. The new police station will help in regular patrolling, quickly reaching to the crime spot, and in carrying out rescue operations.Earlier, during regular patrolling, the police were unable to cover all villages due to time constraints. This has resulted in rise i in petty crimes. Now, it will be stopped due to regular surveillance by police, residents say.Published - February 26, 2025 11:47 pm IST