A day before the final opening ritual of the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Har-ki-Pauri, State Director-General of Police B S Sidhu chaired a meeting with the police personnel on Monday. He also inspected the ghat area, laltarao bridge and Haridwar railway station. The meeting was attended among others by Provincial Armed Constabulary, paramilitary forces, fire-fighting team, cavalry, anti-terrorist and anti-bombing squad and teams of other departments of communication and administration.
State Home Minister Pritam Singh also visited Haridwar and reviewed the Mela works and traffic on Monday. He sounded happy with the infrastructural works having been undertaken to cope with the expected millions of footfalls during the mela period.
In an exclusive talk with The Pioneer, DGP said that special watch towers had been erected at the sensitive locations of Har Ki Pauri which would be manned by cops equipped with weapons, wireless sets and binoculars to combat any emergency. During the night hours, night vision cameras known as Infra Red cameras would be used by way of vigilance, he said, adding that the police personnel have been deployed at their respective posts from Monday.
He further said that for the first time, the State police would be using hi-tech facial recognition system capable of spotting suspected people amidst a crowd. “It is not that we have become extra vigilant post- Pathankot air base terror strike. Stepping up security is a part of routine during a mega congregation of the people. Through the highly sensitive cameras capable of facial recognition, we would be in touch with the intelligence agencies and the pictures captured by these hi-tech cameras shall be monitored by them once the face of a terrorist is spotted.”
For the first time, watch towers are being erected with muti-facility armed men mounting the posts, said DGP. “These men will have wireless equipment, binoculars and the like to view what is happening in the distant areas and act accordingly if something suspicious is spotted anywhere. They shall be possessing Infra red cameras which can work well during the night hours,” he said.
When asked if assistance would be taken from Indian Army, DGP said, “Anti Bomb Squads of the Indian Army are on call.
They would be immediately positioned as and when needed. Bunkers are made at vintage points and more would be installed once the pilgrims start coming in huge number. We are leaving nothing to chance.”
Mention worthy, 5,000 cops have been deputed and the number would cross 10,000 till main Baisakhi snan. “We are expecting five crore people during the entire Mela period and 1.25 crore on the Baisakhi snan itself,” said DGP.