Following high alert sounded by the Central Government in view of the forthcoming festive season to the State, the district police heads have decided to step up security. Additional forces are likely to be deployed in the market areas and other sensitive places, including those tagged with inter-community tension, said State DGP BS Sidhu on Tuesday. Additional forces would be deployed at temples and other religious sites and mixed population areas to prevent untoward incidents in the districts, he said.
He said that an order has been issued to the police officers to intensify patrolling at sensitive places.
This aside, the intelligence officials have been put on high alert and they have also been directed to be vigilant on social networking sites that may be used to foment tension among the communities.
DGP said that security in the State has been tightened with the deployment of additional forces at market areas and other important places in view of the upcoming festive like Durga Puja, Dussehra, Deepawali and others.
The district police officers have been directed to intensify patrolling especially outskirts areas and the sensitive areas during the night hours. This apart, additional forces from intelligence personnel, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel, civil police, dog squads and bomb squads would be deployed in the market areas and other important places, as most of the people come out for shopping during festive seasons.
State additional DGP Anil Kumar Raturi said that as per statistics, number of crimes like theft, burglary and chain snatching is prone to go up during this time. In view of this, an order has been issued to the police officers to strengthen security where such incidents had occurred in the past, he said.
PAC jawans have been given to each district based on its need, he said, adding that PAC jawans along with district police would be posted at busy roads, religious sites and other important places in several districts like Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital. The police officers in the mountainous districts have also been directed to adequately deploy police forces at important places to stave off untoward incident.
He further said that he had directed the police officers to intensify patrolling at railway stations, platforms, railway tracks, bus stands, dharamshalas, dhabas and other places.
The police officers have been directed to deploy additional plain clothes police personnel at jewelry shops, crowed places and busy market areas so that the culprits can be apprehended promptly, Raturi added.