Kanwar Yatra begins, Ghaziabad police deploy 2,000 officers to ensure security

The Ghaziabad police have deployed nearly 2,000 personnel on Kanwar Yatra duty, to ensure safe and secure passage of Kanwarias through the stretches of western Uttar Pradesh.

However, keeping a check on criminal activities in the district will become a major challenge for the Ghaziabad police until the yatra finishes as the district has around 3,500 personnel to tackle crime and enforce law and order.

"Providing safety and ensuring law and order during kanwar yatra is a must. Apart from the 2,000 personnel from the district, we have got two additional platoons of provincial armed constabulary (PAC) and also a flood platoon (to be posted at the Murad Nagar canal) to keep a check on any untoward incident. Some of the police officers will also be posted in plainclothes to track anti-social elements. However, we will ensure that day-to-day policing in residential areas does not suffer," K S Emmanuel, senior superintendent of police for Ghaziabad told Hindustan Times.

"Although the majority of the city's police personnel will be deployed on Kanwar duty, they may also be called up to perform regular duties," he said.

In addition to the police officers, 650 volunteers from civil defence have also been deployed by the district officials to help in regulating traffic.

"Ensuring safety of Kanwarias will be a major challenge. Any untoward incident may spark protests. However, even if the ratio of the police personnel available for the daily routine duties gets reduced, it can be tackled with effective man management. If there is a better management of resources for daily duties, even 1,500 personnel will be sufficient," Colonel (retd) TP Tyagi, chairman of RWA federation told HT.

The traffic police will also be on on alert for a week, from Monday, as the major diversion of vehicles has come into effect from 24 July. Until 1 August, NH-58, Link Road, GT Road will be out of bounds for vehicles. A majority of the traffic load will be diverted to NH-24.

The police also inaugurated the integrated Kanwar Yatra control room at the Meerut intersection on 24 July. The control room will help the police coordinate with the administration more efficiently.