Around one lakh policemen will be deployed for panchayat elections, director general of police V Dinesh Reddy said here on Tuesday.
Elections will be held in 21,543 gram panchayats in three phases. There will be 2,20,406 polling stations in 81 revenue sub-divisions.
“Joint checkposts are also being set up in all districts along with excise staff, to check the flow of illicit liquor etc. Instructions have been given to field-level police officers to implement the model code of conduct,” the DGP told a press conference.
The bandobust plan for the elections is multi-tiered. There will be static deployment in each village, route mobile teams, strike forces, special strike forces and road opening parties, he said.
Giving the overall scenario of crime and extremist activity, Reddy said Maoist violence in the state has declined by more than 56 percent in the last one year. “Only 13 incidents, including four murders, were reported during the first six months this year, when compared to the 30 incidents during the second half of 2012.”
There were seven exchanges of fire between the police and the Maoists in which 10 rebels died.
Coastal security
The coastal security police stations have been operationalised and 18 fast interceptor boats have been received from the Central government, the DGP said.
As many as 148 coastal security home guards have been recruited exclusively from the coastal fishing population, he said.
In the next three months, two new batallions of APSP will become operational, bringing the total to 17. The new battalions will come up at Visakhapatnam and Karimnagar.
Friendly police
Citizens who go to police stations in the city will witness a friendlier atmosphere, said Dinesh Reddy. “The person at the reception will preferably be a woman, or a woman police officer. The stations will have two rooms for counsellingand to make sure whether an FIR needs to be registered,” he explained.
The DGP added that 5,000 CCTV cameras will be installed across Hyderabad to ensure people’s safety on the roads.
Blasts Case
Dinesh Reddy said the police got some leads in the case of Dilsukhnagar bomb blasts which killed 17 persons and injured more than 100. “We know who has done it, and and we have leads. NIA, which is investigating the case, also has the information,’’ he said.