BENGALURU: Commercial establishments, including malls and other businesses have heightened security arrangements ahead of the New Year celebrations.
Establishments on one of the city’s most busy streets, Brigade Road, which has 127 enlisted establishments, have reworked their arrangements. “Two high-end CCTV cameras with 36x zoom are placed at either ends of Brigade Road. We have placed one at the Curzon Court covering Church Street and Cauvery Emporium and another at Monarch Hotel entrance near Mota Royal Arcade. Data of three months data is stored and shared with the police. The police commissioner’s office can access every detail of movements on the road” said Suhail Sait, Secretary Brigade Shops and Establishments Association.
He also said that on New Year’s eve, the crowd usually starts pouring in from 7 pm and goes up to 1 am.
On December 28 last year, a woman was killed and some others injured in an explosion near Coconut Groove on Church Street near Brigade Road.
Secretary of Church Street Shops’ Association, Irfan Noor, said since that incident, security has been beefed up and there are number police patrols. Soon, even Church Street, which has over 50 member establishments, will also be brought under CCTV surveillance.
On Commercial Street, which sees the highest footfalls, traffic wardens too have been roped in. Commercial Street Shop Owners’ Association vice-president Ajay Motwani said, “The police station is in the same street and about 200 shops here are have installed security apparatus. We also have installed CCTVs at the parking lot on Kamaraja Road and the footage is shared with both defence authorities and Commercial Street police.”
Lauding the efforts of the police in installing a camera at Anil Kumble Circle, Bhoopalam P Srinath, past-president of MG Road Shops and Establishments Association, says that right from Trinity Circle all the way up to Anil Kumble Circle,
all establishments have been secured. The presence of defence establishments in the vicinity and heightened police patrol have made it safe, he said.
Malls beef up security
At Phoenix MarketCity in Whitefield, which sees an average footfall of 20,000 daily and close to 50,000 on weekends, a separate room has been provided to ensure no big baggage goes inside the mall. All baggage is also screened.
“Our fire safety and emergency response teams monitor people entering and exiting the mall. If any suspicious movement is spotted, we rope in police. The security team is headed by an ex-Army official,” said Shashi Kumar, senior city centre director, Phoenix MarketCity.
At Orion Mall in the Brigade Gateway campus at Yeshwantpur, a three-layer security system is in place. “We have deployed guards at each of the seven gates. There are close to 60 security personnel and on an average, the campus has over 150 security personnel,” Mathew Abraham, Marketing Manager, Brigade Group, said.
Similar arrangements are also made at Forum Mall in Koramangala as well.