Rabindra Sarobar: Residents around Rabindra Sarobar will get a new police station on November 1, which will primarily focus on the safety and security of the people visiting the Lakes.

The new police station - to be named Rabindra Sarobar - will be carved out of Lake police station and will start functioning from the office of the south-east traffic guard on Meghnad Saha Sarani, near Golpark.

Sources said the police station - which will be the 80th under Lalbazar, the city police headquarters - would later be shifted to a building near Vivekananda Park.

The area under Lake police station is spread across 8sq km.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had in in February 2016 announced that the Dhakuria water body would have a police station of its own.

Hundreds of people, many of them elderly, visit the Lakes premises and the area around Rabindra Sarobar Stadium and Nazrul Mancha in the morning and the evening for their daily walks.

Instances of snatching on the Rabindra Sarobar premises and their immediate surroundings are not uncommon. "Cops are deployed around the Lakes but given the strength, it is not always possible to keep every nook and corner under constant vigil," an officer at Lalbazar said.

There is a "special police deployment" around the sprawling water body as the area is now a "high-security" zone because of the chief minister's frequent visits to Nazrul Mancha to attend various programmes.

"Lake police station looks after a large area with a mixed population. The area includes highrises along Southern Avenue as well as slums in Panchanantala," the officer said. "The new police station, to be set up by carving the area under Lake thana, will play an effective role in curbing crime on the Rabindra Sarobar premises and managing crowds during Durga Puja. Several big pujas are held in the area under Lake police station. From next year they will be split evenly between the two thanas."

The largest police station under Lalbazar is Calcutta Leather Complex, which has an area measuring 54sq km under its control. The smallest is Posta, looking after a 1sq km-area.

The area under Calcutta police doubled on September 1, 2011, following the inclusion of 17 police stations from adjoining districts.