Hyderabad, September 12: Event managers can learn lot of lessons from the Hyderabad City Police which has exhibited its skills by ensuring successful conduct of Ganesh immersion procession on Sunday.
Ensuring security for nearly 12 lakh people on city roads spread across 15 kilometres is not a small task. However, effective planning and execution has ensured the celebration of festival without any hassles.
Imagine the logistics involved in the Ganesh procession. Nearly 25,000 Ganesh idols were immersed in the Hussain Sagar Lake on Sunday. Depending upon the size of each idol, a truck or other vehicle was required. Small streams from all directions joined the main procession at different places. The City Police deployed its men across the city in such a way that they effectively monitored the movement of each vehicle till they reached Hussain Sagar Lake for immersion. Further, despite the fact that thousands of idols were to be immersed, the policemen displaced no sense of urgency and without disturbing the festive mood they ensure that the vehicles move at a smart pace.
Similarly, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and other departments worked in tandem by making effective arrangements at the Hussain Sagar Lake for the immersion of the idols. Over 50 heavy duty cranes were deployed and on an average each idol was immersed within 5 minutes. Elaborate security arrangements were made at the lake to avoid the incidents like drowning.
Further, the movement of vehicles carrying Ganesh idols was designed in such a way that the empty vehicles left the Hussain Sagar in short time without causing any obstruction to the main procession. Entire event was monitored using hundreds of surveillance cameras and it was also recorded using 800 video cameras. The City Police officials stayed in touch with each other using 2500 wireless handsets. Strategically, instead of using four-wheelers the policemen relied on two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws to reach different locations.
The coordination between various departments and the proper execution of plans has ensured that the peaceful conduct of 24-hour-long Ganesh immersion procession in the city on Sunday. However, the City Police has been actively engaged in security arrangements for the last 10 days. According to an official, managing a force of over 25,000 men was not an easy task. “Besides arranging vehicles for the security personnel, many times we face difficulties in arranging proper food for them,” said an official.
Overall, the successful conduct of Ganesh procession amidst unprecedented security is a perfect lesson for the event managers and they should not miss documenting all its aspects.
———Agencies