Tirupati, May 09: The famous hill shrine of Tirumala and its base town Tirupati, which feature prominently on the terror radar, will be further fortified, once the proposed Tirupati urban police district becomes a reality.
The temple town, which witness 70,000 to 80,000 pilgrims from across the country and abroad, on an average every day has a high threat perception, considering past incidents involving terrorists, where places of worship were targeted.
Further, the VIP traffic to the temple town is also high, making it a high security sensitive zone. It is also putting pressure on the district police, which has to address the protocol and VIP security issues.
Considering all these issues, a separate police commissionerate for Tirupati has been mooted.
The government in principal had agreed for Tirupati urban police district and had even appointed V Ravindra as OSD (Officer on Special Duty) recently, for overlooking the process.
Director General of Police R R Girish Kumar visited Tirupati today and held a review meeting with district police officials and Anantapur Range DIG Charu Sinha, in which Tirupati urban police district and security issues relating to Tirumala and Tirupati were discussed.
“Efforts are on for setting up Tirupati urban police district and it will be a reality soon. Land for setting up offices and providing other infrastructure facilites are being considered. Considering the importance of Tirumala and other places like Srikalahasti in the district, which are also prominent pilgrim centres, we are contemplating integrated security system,’’ the DGP said.
Though there is no special terror alert for Tirumala as such, measures are being taken to improve the security system in Tirumala and also increase the number of security personnel, he said. “There is already a Octopus unit in Tirumala and we are planning to increase the SPF personnel, from the present 200 to 600,’’ Girish Kumar said and added that he would be discussing it with the TTD Executive Officer and district officials.
The state police chief said that every precautionary measure is being taken in the state capital and elsewhere in the state in the wake of intelligence reports about possible terror attacks. He said the focus is on creating public awareness, improving security at public places like malls.
“We are coordinating with other departments like IB to ensure no untoward incident happens,’’ he said.
The DGP visited a few sites selected for the Tirupati police urban district office.
Later he had the darshan of the Lord at Tirumala.
Anantapur DIG Charu Sinha, Chittoor SP Ramakrishna, OSD Ravindra, SP (Admin) RN Ammi Reddy and others were present.
–Agencies