Perungudi residents want visible policing during day

CHENNAI: Adhilakshmi gives a suspicious look at two motorbike-borne men who have just stopped by her shop on Veerasamy Street in Perungudi, apparently to grab a soft drink. Upset over her behaviour, the men leave without having the drink. “I am rude at times,“ says the woman, “but I have my reasons.“
Three years ago, two men on a motorbike had come to the shop asking for some snacks.In daylight, they snatched her two-sovereign gold chain and escaped. She filed a police complaint, but nothing came of it. Since then she has been careful. “I stopped wearing gold jewellery after the incident. What I still can't believe is that it all happened in the afternoon, at 3,“ she recalls.
The main roads in Perungudi are wide and clean and the street lights installed in many streets are functional, but residents do not feel safe walking on the roads. Police teams patrol the interior areas regularly after dark, but residents say robbers are on the prowl during the day , when beat policemen are a rare sight. They want regular patrolling during the day besides a permanent police booth in residential localities.
A resident of Kurinji Nagar says he has seen at least five chain snatching attempts in a year. “It is mainly because the roads in the residential localities are mostly deserted in the after noons as residents do not step out of their houses and that gives of fenders a good chance to snatch chains from women S walking alone,“ says Maximus, a resident of Kurinji Nagar. “There used to be petty thefts earlier like stealing mangoes and other fruits from our trees.But now it's daylight robbery .“
Usha Ajith from Green Acres, a residential plaza, says they are not able to approach policemen in times of emergency . “There is a police booth, but it is away from the residential area. We need a booth nearby ,“ she says.
They say that Kallukuttai, an unauthorized slum colony with more than 10,000 houses, has been a hiding place for many anti-social elements. “The criminals find it convenient to escape as there is a road abutting Perungudi lake which has lots of bushes around it,“ says Shaju, who lives near the lake.
The situation is somewhat similar in Madipakkam except that some elderly victims of chain snatching do not bother to lodge a complaint fearing that they might have to run from pillar to post. A septuagenarian, who didn't wish to be named, recalls how two men on a motorbike took away her gold chain on a road near Kamakshi Amman Temple in Karthikeyapuram. She was returning home after buying vegetables at 6.30pm.
“I have health issues. If I lodge a complaint, I will have to keep going to the police station to follow it up. I have no hopes of getting it back. So, I let it be,“ she says.