While taking a crime review meeting with the officials at Mela Control Tower on Wednesday, Inspector General Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal said that Uttarakhand police would reveal some important information related to ISIS threat soon.
He said the State was prepared against any such attacks. He also said that State police would announce district-level awards on the professional criminals who had played a key role in 1982-83 bomb blasts that left many dead. Intense checking of the borders of the State has already been started, he said, adding that the highly sensitive railway stations of the district would be under constant vigilance during Ardh Kumbh Mela.
Referring to the recent fire incident in a train stationed at Haridwar that was reported by GRP, IG said that police were in constant touch with the Central government agencies regarding the security and other issues.
Newly-created force, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) would also perform in its new avatar in providing medical facilities and paramedical staff during fairs and fests, IG said, “The close circuit cameras would be installed inside the important buildings. We have appealed to the owners of the dharamshalas and the hotels to install them outside nearer the road so as to ensure fool-proof security,” he said.
Asked about security arrangements for Panchayat polls, Gunjyal said, “Zila Panchayat polls are always a challenge from policing point of view. We have started arms license verification drive at the village level. This aside, ‘Peace Teams’ (Shanti Samitis) comprising five personnel each have been constituted in every village. They would act before tension flares up, to nip things in the bud. The vulnerable points whence tension might spring have been earmarked.”
Fourteen companies of PAC have been deployed for Ardh Kumbh Mela, informed IG Garhwal in addition to other police personnel.