25,000 cops to fortify festivities

The Mumbai police will deploy 25,000 police personnel to patrol and perform bandobast duty as part of the security measures put in place for Ganesh Chaturthi being celebrated in the city Monday onwards.

In addition to police personnel patrolling the streets and major pandals, the police for the first time will also use drones to man crowds on all the 11 days of the festival.

While senior Mumbai police officers denied having received any specific threat, they say that they would take all routine security measures to ensure that the festival is celebrated smoothly.

For this, the police have also roped in special forces and Quick Response Teams (QRTs) as additional cover. Officials also said that help would be taken from Anti-Terrosism Squad (ATS), Force One and bomb squads to monitor the crowds.

When contacted, ATS officials said it had not received any threat but was taking all possible measures.

“Recently, we arrested some people for alleged ISIS links and through them learnt that they were planning an attack in various parts of the state. However, we are on the alert and taking all security measures needed to keep the festivities safe and smooth,” said an ATS source.

Police sources have revealed that of the 25,000 police personnel deployed, 14,000 will be posted on the streets for patrolling. They have also increased the number of closed-circuit television cameras in hand to reach areas and watchtowers will also be manned to monitor the crowd and traffic.

This year, there are a total of 7,000 Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandals, and one and a half lakh private home Ganpatis in the city.