Now, the policemen of Moradabad have their own cozy corner, where they can unwind after a hard day’s work, alone or with their families. To provide some recreational facility to the policemen and their families, the Moradabad Police department turned a dilapidated archaic structure mess into a modern café, built around a vintage retro theme to maintain its legacy.
In an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, IPS officer Shakti Avasthy, ASP of Moradabad Police, who was part of the project, shared details about the mess-turned-modern café.
MESS TURNED INTO CAFÉ
“It was a 1939 built mess building which was in a bad condition. Apart from destroying the building or auctioning it’s remnants there was no other option left. So, we thought, why not use this old archaic structure for our policemen and specially for the constable trainees and police staff families,” ASP Avasthy said.
The Moradabad police lines have around 500-600 families living there. There was no TV, cafes and any other mode of entertainment for them. But now, the old building, which was not in use since last 20-30 years, will give them a place to sit around and socialise.
THE CAFÉ
The café provides food at a very reasonable cost and keeps motivational books for the newly recruited constable trainees for studying in their free hours. “We should motivate them to do good in life. Even the kids of police staff can take the books to read. We have also installed television facility in the café so that our staff can spend some good recreational time over there,” said Mr. Avasthy.
It is the brainchild of Mr. Avasthy himself and he designed the interior of the café. He says, “This building was already a vintage building, so we thought, why not to give it a vintage retro theme so that the legacy is also maintained. We have muskets of 19th century, medals, shields, old photographs. There are photographs of the visits of the then Prime Ministers, Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and others who visited the mess.”
Apart from this, the café also has glorious pictographic memories of the parade of 1930s when India was yet to get her independence. The café is a memoir of the rich heritage of Moradabad.
The project officers were given a deadline to complete the renovation of the building in a week and, therefore, the whole café was set up within that time span and it was inaugurated by ADG Bareilly Zone.
“No money was taken from our pockets or the police staff, or funds or government money. The building was rented by someone to run the mess for us, so they give us monthly rent, and we constructed this café from that money itself,” said Mr. Avasthy.
EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS
The officer further told Indian Masterminds that there is hardly any type of café in any police lines in Uttar Pradesh. “We believe that this café will showcase a good example to other districts as well, where one can give a new look to old dilapidated buildings in a beautiful manner, without spending much money.”
He also mentioned that the police staff are very happy to see such a facility for them. “It’s a good place to hangout. Police do not have a day off, so these little facilities can help in uplifting their mood,” he summed up.
