Mumbai Police will deploy nearly 47,000 uniformed policemen to curb criminal activities; of these, 5,000 will be in civil attire to catch miscreants, something that wasn’t done last year
Mumbai Police will be increasing the number of plainclothes policemen this year during Ganpati visarjan, to keep an eye on miscreants. In all, around 47,000 uniformed police personnel will be deployed in the city on the tenth day of visarjan.
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Police said they would keep an eye out for suspicious elements and ensure smooth proceedings for the immersion, especially for big Ganesh mandals like Lalbaug, Girgaum and Ganesh Galli. File pic for representation.
A total of 5,000 policemen in civil attire will cover 88 visarjan points in the city where immersion takes place. Officials plan to carry out random checks on these routes; at specific places, they will be provided with metal detectors. CCTV and video cameras will also keep an eye where it is most needed.
mid-day’s August 28 report on the special squad to catch molesters on camera
“We will see to it that visarjan of important Ganpatis like Lalbaugcha Raja, Khetwadi, Ganesh Galli takes place without traffic hurdles. We will see to it that no bottlenecks and traffic jams occur in their routes and nobody parks cars in their way.
There will be also towing vans ahead of them,” said Sanjay Barkhund, deputy commissioner of police (operations), Mumbai Police. Around 2,200 Traffic police personnel will also be deputed to various parts of the city and 1,000 cops will be on standby as a reserve force.
DCP Dhananjay Kulkarni, spokesperson for Mumbai Police, added, “Around 10,500 NCC cadets and NSS volunteers, along with NGO members, will be posted at certain places. The city will also have 10 units of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and two units of the Border Security Force (BSF).” Each unit of SRPF and BSF has around 110-120 people.
Keeping women safe
Around 93 squads will be deployed across the city to prevent crimes against women. These will comprise on officer policemen and two women cops from each of the 93 police stations in the city.
mid-day has already reported on the anti-harassment squads the cops have deployed, with teams being armed with video cameras and mobile phones to catch molesters in the act and showing the video to their family and friends to shame the culprits.
The squads have managed to lodge 16 cases with cognisable offences; 573 other people have been charged under other sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Police will be on high alert, especially on beaches. To strengthen the coastal security, the port zone of Mumbai Police have been put on duty. The Coast Guard and the Indian Navy have been asked to step up security in the sea. “Around 1,000 policemen will be deployed at Juhu Chowpatty,” said Milind Bharambe, additional commissioner of police (western zone).
“We will be carrying out random checks to keep an eye on suspicious people and objects. Dog squads, new recruits and quick response team (QRT) policemen will look out for suspicious objects,” said Bharambe. Additionally, Force One commandoes, the elite counter-terror force, will be posted at strategic locations to nab terrorists. Bomb detection and disposal squads will also be present at various visarjan spots.
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