CHENNAI: A 118-year-old police building, converted into a
deputy commissioner
’s office in Chintadripet under
Triplicane
district, was inaugurated by commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal on Tuesday.
The
old building
had been opened in 1902 by then
Madras police
commissioner Oswald Ruth Jones.
The Chintadripet
police station
, which was functioning there, later moved to a new building, while the Anna Square Traffic Investigation wing continued to operate from the old building.
Triplicane deputy commissioner G Dharmarajan, who will move into the new office, said, “I decided to restore the building without spoiling any of the antique features including the Burma teak pillars used to hold the 20-ft-high roof.
The renovation took three months to complete, said Dharmarajan, acknowledging the help of
Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation engineers. Dharmarajan had overseen construction of a guest house for police officers at Triveni Sangamam in Kanyakumari when he was SP, three badminton courts at the armed reserve campus in Coimbatore and a marriage hall for police at Thanjavur.
Earlier, commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal told reporters “The old police commissioner’s office will reopen as a police museum in 3-4 months.”