ROURKELA: Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the Durga Puja festival in Rourkela with enhanced electronic surveillance of notorious criminals.
On Thursday, police held the monthly parade of 105 habitual offenders as part of the crime and criminal network monitoring. Police sources said database of 187 known criminals has been integrated with the predictive policing system keeping them virtually under electronic surveillance.
In view of the festival, enforcement against unlawful activities has been further intensified, while seven cases have been registered so far for illegal storage of firecrackers.
Durga Puja is being celebrated at 109 locations across Rourkela city and the administration expects a footfall of around eight lakh along with several lakh of vehicles during the festival. Of the 109 puja venues, four have been categorised as ‘Special Class’ and 21 ‘A Class’. Around 20 prominent locations of the city have been installed with advanced surveillance cameras.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said steps have been taken for geo-tagging of vehicle parking spots and hourly release of updates through WhatsApp messages for smooth traffic flow. Thrust has also been laid on creation of extra parking spaces.
He said the ring road is expected to witness huge traffic flow. At least 69 surveillance cameras with automatic number plate recognition feature would aid in management and necessary diversion of traffic. Announcement through public address system would also be made regarding the traffic situation on the ring road.
He said for better experience of pandal hoppers and devotees, puja committees have been asked to refrain from using high-pitch DJ music system. Use of modified DJ vehicles during immersion procession on October 3 has been banned. All puja committees have been asked to install surveillance cameras at entry and exit points and also deploy volunteers for crowd management at the venues.
Police camps would be set up at prominent Durga Puja venues. Deployment of police will be made at all other important road junctions and strategic locations. The SP said 22 platoons of forces including one Central Armed Police Force would be deployed for safety, security and smooth conduct of the festival.