Chennai’s only ‘white’ police station now ISO certified

CHENNAI: At 146 years old, Flower Bazaar police station is one of the oldest in the city. It’s also the only police station, painted white, a deviation from the red colour, which has now become synonymous with stations across the State.

On Wednesday, Flower Bazaar police station was awarded ISO 9001:2015 and WASH (Workplace Assessment for Safety and Hygiene) standard certificates after independent assessment of the standards by an autonomous body. “This is the fifth police station in Tamil Nadu and the 10th in the country to get both standard certificates,” city top cop Shankar Jiwal said.

The building was reconstructed and inaugurated in February 2006. In the last 15 years, it has become a model police station. “When a police station has a good infrastructure, cleanliness and those coming with grievances are received and attended well, it’ll have a good impact on the public too. In future, every police station will have reception officers,” said Jiwal.

To become a model police station, changing the paint alone is not enough. The personnel of Flower Bazaar police station worked hard to bring the station up to the required standards and persevered to maintain them too. From landscaping inside the premises to a reception area with dedicated personnel to attend to complainants and spacious office spaces for the workforce, Flower Bazaar police station has been a model police station for almost a year now. To save electricity, the station is powered by a solar power plant. There’s also a dedicated CCTV room equipped with LED monitors.

“All suggestions we gave on maintenance were accepted. New furniture, storage facilities for LED and other compliance requirements are being adhered to,” said Karthikeyan of Quert certification, which carried out the assessment.

The standardisation certificates were handed over in the presence of HR&CE Minister PK Sekarbabu. “Visitors to police stations are either complainants or criminals. But, Flower Bazaar police station is so good that it can even be advertised for tourists to visit,” he said.

Sekarbabu, who is the legislator of Harbour constituency under which the Flower Bazaar police station falls, pointed out that despite being a busy police station, commended the efforts of the personnel’s efforts to earn this certification. “I hope that all police stations in my constituency become model police stations,” he smiled.

The unique white colour of the building was not lost on the minister too. “Police stations are usually painted in red. Red also denotes danger. The white in this building is soothing,” he said.