Pune, October 11: To avoid any untoward incident on the day of polling(October 13), the city police will take into custody as many as 600 people, whom they suspect may disrupt the polling process.
Deputy commissioner of police (special branch) Ravindra Sengaonkar said, “So far we have taken preventive action against 3,386 people and have executed non-bailable warrants against 1,623 suspects. We have also prepared a list of 500 to 600 people, whom we will take into custody just a day before polling.”
Sengaonkar said the police have made elaborate security arrangements at all the 3,162 booths located at 591 buildings. “We have identified 70 buildings and 518 booths as sensitive. We will be providing adequate security at these buildings along with cameras and CCTVs. The police force at these places will comprise a police sub-inspector, a constable and three men from the Central Para Military Force (CPMF),” Sengaonkar said.
Sengaonkar said that 10 constituencies and some parts of four constituencies directly come under the city police commissionerate. The Election Commission (EC) has appointed 14 observers, who are sending daily reports to the Commission on the preparations of the police in view of the elections.
As per the guidelines of the state election commission, each booth will be equipped with armed policemen. The Pune police have received help from six CPMF teams, whose services are utilised for maintaining law and order during the election period, Sengaonkar said.
“We have given a list of wanted suspects to the CPMF for keeping a tab on their activities. We have also provided them with a liaison officer who will assist them in tracing the suspects, if necessary,” Sengaonkar added.
Sengaonkar said that as many as 30 check posts have been created at all the entry points in the city. “We will be checking all the vehicles entering the city round-the-clock. One police inspector, four policemen, including an armed guard and two traffic police, have been deployed at these posts,” Sengaonkar said adding, “Eight Quick Response Teams (QRT) have been deployed at police headquarters at Shivajinagar. We will use the QRT if any untoward incident occurs on the day of polling.”
The police have acquired 238 more walkie-talkie sets and 90 wireless sets. At present, the city police have 497 wireless and walkie-talkie sets with them. The police have also hired about 100 vehicles for the CPMF officials.
–Agencies–