HYDERABAD: All Ganesh pandals in Hyderabad, to be erected for the ensuing festival, will be geotagged for easy surveillance and prevention of untoward incidents, police commissioner M Mahendar Reddy said.
Speaking at a coordination meeting held with pandal organisers here on Friday, Reddy said Hyderabad police would deploy around 24,000 personnel, including those of Greyhounds and Octopus, to ensure smooth conduct of the nine-day-long festivities beginning next week.
“We will keep a close vigil on every movement on account of geotagging through an application which will be monitored by senior police officers. Thus, police can keep track of when and how many police staff visited a pandal, organisers’ details and their regular activities and miscreants’ illegal activities, if any,” he said. There were no specific inputs from intelligence agencies about possible threats, he said and appealed to people not to believe any rumours.
After the nine-day celebration, all idols would be immersed in water bodies in a single day in order to spare public of any inconvenience, he said. Similar meetings were also held by Rachakonda and Cyberabad police officials.