AHMEDABAD: When the 135th Jagannath Rath Yatra will start on Thursday
morning, more than 20,000 personnel from police and paramilitary forces
will be on their toes to make sure that the chariots get a safe passage.
The senior police officials in the city will conduct a dress rehearsal
on Tuesday morning to inspect the arrangements and meet the local
leaders.
Joint commissioner of police (special) A K Sharma addressed the media on Monday about the security arrangements made by the force for the procession. "This year, there will be over 20,000 personnel and officers of the city and state police, along with paramilitary forces, on duty on the 22-kilometer-long route. The cavalcade of chariots, trucks and tableaux, will be nearly 1.5 km long. We have conducted separate briefings of various teams over the past 10 days to ensure everybody knows their role," he said.
Sharma said that they have made some new arrangements for the yatra. "First of all, we will have live SMS updates for the police officers above the rank of sub-inspectors. They will get SMSs as soon as the chariot has passed from a particular spot. We have collaborated with a private firm to disseminate the information so that the team posted next on route is alerted. Second, we have covered sensitive parts of the route with CCTV cameras. Shahpur, Dariapur and Jamalpur will have 23 CCTV cameras to monitor the situation constantly from the city police control room," said Sharma.
Every year, the chariots were embedded with GPS system so that it can be monitored by the police officials. This year, 14 police vehicles will also be equipped with the transmitters. The police said that these vehicles will be placed in the caravan after a gap of every 15 vehicles so that at the time of emergency, the nearest team can be intimated and deployed immediately.
Before the chariots pass, four teams of the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) of 50 personnel each will comb the nearby areas and give a go ahead. The houses which have become dangerous due to their dilapidated condition have been served notices by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). "At every such building, a policeman will be deployed to prevent people from climbing up the building to ensure it doesn't crumble under their weight," said an official.
Joint commissioner of police (special) A K Sharma addressed the media on Monday about the security arrangements made by the force for the procession. "This year, there will be over 20,000 personnel and officers of the city and state police, along with paramilitary forces, on duty on the 22-kilometer-long route. The cavalcade of chariots, trucks and tableaux, will be nearly 1.5 km long. We have conducted separate briefings of various teams over the past 10 days to ensure everybody knows their role," he said.
Sharma said that they have made some new arrangements for the yatra. "First of all, we will have live SMS updates for the police officers above the rank of sub-inspectors. They will get SMSs as soon as the chariot has passed from a particular spot. We have collaborated with a private firm to disseminate the information so that the team posted next on route is alerted. Second, we have covered sensitive parts of the route with CCTV cameras. Shahpur, Dariapur and Jamalpur will have 23 CCTV cameras to monitor the situation constantly from the city police control room," said Sharma.
Every year, the chariots were embedded with GPS system so that it can be monitored by the police officials. This year, 14 police vehicles will also be equipped with the transmitters. The police said that these vehicles will be placed in the caravan after a gap of every 15 vehicles so that at the time of emergency, the nearest team can be intimated and deployed immediately.
Before the chariots pass, four teams of the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) of 50 personnel each will comb the nearby areas and give a go ahead. The houses which have become dangerous due to their dilapidated condition have been served notices by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). "At every such building, a policeman will be deployed to prevent people from climbing up the building to ensure it doesn't crumble under their weight," said an official.
