Home Minister reviews arrangements for Ganesh immersion

Hyderabad, Sept 2 :

 Minister for Home Ms Sabitha Indra Reddy on Wednesday reviewed the arrangements for smooth conduct of immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar on Thursday with police top brass at Tank bund.

Talking to media persons, she said that the government has taken all measures to conduct the ritual in a peaceful manner without any untoward incidents.

She said the government has identified 535 sensitive areas, 257 hyper-sensitive places in the city and the police arrested 800 rowdy-sheeters as a precautionary measure.

She said that over 13,000 idols of Lord Ganesha would be immersed in Hussainsagar and tanks surrounding the city. The police are deploying more than 26,000 policemen for immersion procession starting from Balapur on the suburbs. The government has arranged 26 cranes for immersion purpose.

The City Security Wing (CSW) is already combing the entire city with hand-held metal detectors, deep search mine detectors, vehicle inspection mirrors; explosives vapour detector and sniffer dogs.

Forty bomb disposal squads along with an access control team were deployed at the Khairatabad Ganesh pandal. Police have also imposed traffic restrictions to avoid chaos all along the procession route.

Vehicle checking at all entry and exit points and crowded places, including railway and bus stations, lodges, and restaurants were being conducted randomly for the last few days. Policemen in mufti were deployed at the bus and railway stations to keep a constant watch on strangers’ movement.

“We are mainly focusing on vehicle checking on the main intersections along with baggage checking at the crowded places. We are also detaining persons moving suspiciously and releasing them later after enquiring their antecedents,” said DCP (Task Force) V B Kamalasan Reddy.