VISAKHAPATNAM: The police are giving finishing touches to the security arrangements and pre-planned traffic management for the International Fleet Review. Security at the tourist spots and the coastal stretch has been beefed up.
According to police commissioner Amit Garg, as a part of security a number of Road Opening Parties (ROP) _ armed police teams and Bomb Detection (BD) squad _ are being deployed. They will constantly check all the routes used by the VVIPs and VIPs well in advance. Apart from the routes, the bomb detection squads will also inspect the places where VIPs are put up and tourist spots where the delegates are expected to visit. The CP said that the bomb detection squads will be summoned from various places of the state and will have all necessary equipments such as prodders, deep search metal detectors and sniffer dogs.
According to Amit Garg, the traffic management and security will be in three phases and a total of 15,000 police will be on duty. Around 3,500 police personnel will be deployed in the first phase during the rehearsals from January 27. Another 3,500 will be deployed in the second phase for the IFR event from Feb 2, when all the VVIPs will be landing in the city. However, 8,000 men will be deployed on February 7 when the International City Parade and a few other events are scheduled.
The police have already set up 12 check-posts at entry-exit points which are being manned by armed police and six more checkposts will be set up in the city limits. During the major event, Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) will be deployed at strategic locations, who will respond instantly to any alert, while there will be also special teams of elite Greyhounds and Octopus.
The event will be monitored from over 300 CCTV cameras, which are being set up in the city, while the footages will be monitored from the Integrated Central Command Centre at police commissionerate by a DCP-rank officer. The police have already opened a IFR cell on the commissionerate premises. During the event, armed police will man the entries with door frame metal detector (DFMD), hand held metal detector (HHMD) and sniffer dogs.
The city police have also drafted plans for the traffic management, including routing the vehicle during the events. According to traffic officials, the major challenge for them will be on February 7, when public will view the event. Sources said that police are chalking out plans to stop public at some point from the beach and private vehicles will ferry people to reach the venue or if public desire they can also go by foot.