he Uttar Pradesh Police beefed up security at Ayodhya — specially near the disputed site — for Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Shiv Sena programmes at the weekend.
While the VHP, with support from the RSS, will hold a Dharma Sabha to demand a legislation on the early construction of Ram temple at the disputed site on November 25, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackarey is slated to visit the city for two days starting November 24.
In order to comply with the Supreme Court’s order and maintain law and order, the state government has made elaborate security arrangements in the temple town with the deployment of Anti-Terror Squad, additional police and para-military forces and is expected to press drone cameras into service to monitor the crowd.
The VHP has claimed that over one lakh people, including saints and sadhus, will attend the Dharma Sabha.
DGP OP Singh on Thursday said security arrangements were reviewed and all preparations were in place to implement the Supreme Court order, maintain law and order and communal peace.
ADG, Lucknow Zone, Ashutosh Pandey and IG, Lucknow Range, Sujit Pandey will be camping at Ayodhya from November 24 and for administrative ease, the town has been divided into different sectors with each being supervised by a gazetted officer.
The DGP said no mass movement will be allowed towards Ram Lalla makeshift temple site. He added that Section 144 CrPC had already been clamped in Ayodhya and no activity would be allowed without the permission of the district administration.
Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said that there was no need of any concern as adequate security arrangements had already been made and directions of Supreme Court would be strictly followed.
On the concerns of Muslims fearing a backlash, the officer said their fear was unfounded and they had been convinced of security after district authorities met them.
Kumar pointed out that over one lakh people were expected to attend the VHP rally. “Around 20-25 lakh pilgrims camp in the city during ‘Chaudah Koshi Parikrama’ and ‘Panch Kosi Parikrama’ and we can easily handle the situation so congregation of about 1 lakh is easily manageable,” Kumar said exuding confidence.
SSP of Ayodhya Joginder Singh said they had demanded 20 companies of PAC and two companies of RAF to maintain law and order.