BHUBANESWAR: The State Police Headquarters has decided to assign crowd control duties to four senior IPS officers during the Rath Yatra.
Since crowd control remains one of the top most priorities, Odisha Police has entrusted the responsibility to IG (personnel) Praveen Kumar, IG (North Central range) Satyabrata Bhoi, IG Crime Branch Sarthak Sarangi and DIG (provisioning) Charan Singh Meena, said a senior police officer.
As per the tentative plan, Director, Intelligence RP Koche will be in-charge of the security and IG Operations Deepak Kumar will head the anti-terrorist and counter-drone squads. Eastern range DIG Pinak Mishra will be in charge of security inside Shree Jagannath Temple while IG Training Anup Kumar Sahoo will look after the security of the VIPs. Transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur will be in charge of traffic and be assisted by STF DIG Kanwar Vishal Singh.
ADG Railways and Coastal Security Arun Bothra will be assisted by Crime Branch SP Vivekananda Sharma to monitor security in the sea as well as the railway stations. An integrated control room will also be set up where the CCTV coverage will be monitored. DIG CB Battula Gangadhar will be in-charge of the control room.
Sources said Odisha Police may request the Centre to provide at least 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to maintain law and order during Rath Yatra.
ADG (modernisation) Saumyendra Priyadarsi will be in the overall charge during the chariot festival. After the stampede near Shree Gundicha Temple last year, which claimed three lives and injured several others, the state government had placed Priyadarsi in overall charge of police arrangements for Rath Yatra and other related rituals.