VIJAYAWADA: As the State is gearing up for the vote counting process on June 4, the police officials in various districts on Wednesday conducted ‘mob operations’ mock drills across Andhra Pradesh in the wake of poll related violence reported last week.
The mock drill operations, consisting of State armed reserve and Central armed police forces, were aimed to demonstrate the preparedness of officials to handle any untoward incident and create awareness among the public.
Following the incidents of violence reported on May 13 and May 14, Director General of Police (DGP) Harish Kumar Gupta instructed all the district heads and commissioners of NTR district and Visakhapatnam to make elaborate security arrangements for the peaceful conduct of vote counting process. He also directed the unit heads to carry out flag marches, field visits and activities like mock drills in the districts in order to create awareness among people on preventive measures to be taken during violence and group clashes.
On Wednesday, Superintendents of Police (SPs) of Guntur, Eluru, Prakasam and East Godavari districts conducted a ‘mob operation’ mock drill in their respective districts where the police personnel demonstrated crowd control.
As part of the drill, in the first warning, crowds and agitating groups will be scattered using a public addressing system. If the warning goes unheard, then they use tear gas with the permission of the magistrate, lathi charge to protect oneself, and later the fire department use the water cannon and use plastic pellets to scatter the crowd. If the situation is still alarming, police will go firing as a last resort to bring the situation under control.