COIMBATORE: In a first, police will use drone-mounted cameras to monitor Vinayagar Chathurthi pandals and processions in the city. The festival falls on August 31 and installation of idols in pandals will start soon. As part of precautionary measures, police intensified vehicle checks and it will continue for the next two weeks.
Vinayagar Chaturthi processions were low-key events in the last two years due to the pandemic. With Covid-19 restrictions relaxed, police expect large scale participation of people in the festivities this year.
“We will use drone camera surveillance to monitor the route of the processions. Also, we will install CCTV cameras at vantage points in the route,” Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan told TNIE.
Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) P Thamarai Kannan on Thursday convened two sessions of meeting with senior police officers to review the security arrangements. In the meeting with city police, commissioner V Balakrishnan, Deputy and Assistant commissioners were present. The ADGP directed them to act without bias against anyone disturbing peace and communal harmony.
He told them to intensify vehicle checks and checking of lodges and hotels. This was followed by a meeting with officers from the west zone in which IG R Sudhakar, DIGs of Salem and Coimbatore participated. Besides stepping up security, police officers have been instructed to conduct meetings with the organizers of the processions, at the police station level.