State answers former cop's prayer for building upgrade

A pensioner's plea to give a new lease of life to the office he had once worked in has been heard.

Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation (BPBCC) has taken steps to repair the historic Pirbahore police station in the capital. The corporation has charted out a detailed plan and deputed a team of officials to monitor the repair work.

Four days after The Telegraph published a report on the dilapidated condition of the police station building and its first officer in-charge Uma Nath Verma donating Rs 5,001 from his pension account for the repair work, a band of labourers started removing debris and garbage from the premises on Wednesday.

Sources in the police headquarters said a copy of Verma's letter was sent to the BPBCC chairman last week.

A senior IPS officer said the letter addressed to chief minister Nitish Kumar created ripples in the police circles. "It was an eye-opener for the senior police officers responsible for proper upkeep of the buildings. It also depicts the picture of the sorry state of affairs at the police stations. It throws light on the poor working conditions of policemen," he said.

The BPBCC chairman-cum-managing director, Ashok Kumar Gupta, said the renovation work would be completed within four months. Around Rs 10.57 lakh has been sanctioned for the repair work. The chairman added that the repair estimate was prepared on the basis of the report of the officials of the technical cell of the corporation. Executive engineer B.P. Chaurasia headed the team.

A decision to get the building renovated was taken at a meeting with the officials of the BPBCC, which decides on construction and repair work of police stations in Bihar. "A detailed report was submitted by a team of technical experts, who visited the Pirbahore police station three days ago," he said.

The corporation was also mulling over a proposal to construct a seven-storeyed building on the land of the police station. "The thana is located at a prime locality and is adjacent to Ashok Rajpath. It could be developed into a multi-storeyed building. The corporation has to seek an approval from the police headquarters and also from the government," Gupta said.

Happy over the decision, Verma, who took the pain to bring the issue into the limelight, said: "It gives me immense pleasure to know that the renovation work has been started. It will be a great pleasure if the police station is developed into a tower police station to control all sorts of crime on the patterns of those in US, Canada and UK."

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State answers former cop's prayer for building upgrade