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About 10k security personnel take oath at Ganga ghat for security during Mahakumbh
About 10,000 personnel from various paramilitary and police forces deployed at Haridwar Mahakumbh took oath for “fulfilling their responsibilities and duties with honesty and integrity” at Har ki Pauri Ganga ghat on Sunday in Haridwar
About 10,000 personnel from various paramilitary and police forces deployed at Haridwar Mahakumbh took oath for “fulfilling their responsibilities and duties with honesty and integrity” at Har ki Pauri Ganga ghat on Sunday in Haridwar.
The oath was administered by director-general of Uttarakhand police Ashok Kumar after offering prayers at Ganga ghat.
About 10,000 security personnel from paramilitary forces, including Sashastra Seem Bal, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Security Force and state police, have been deployed in the Mahakumbh which is scheduled to start from April 1.
Apart from the paramilitary forces, one team of National Security Guards - also known as Black Cat Commandos - three teams of Uttarakhand Police bomb disposal squad and anti-terrorist squad each, one team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)’s anti-sabotage team, 10 companies of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and four companies of Uttarakhand PAC are deployed to ensure the security arrangements in the mega religious event.
Speaking on the security arrangements for the Mahakumbh mela, DGP Kumar said that apart from the on-ground security, the state police would also monitor the social media platforms.
“To ensure security from all aspects, intelligence-sharing between various agencies on any anti-national activities during Mahakumbh, social media monitoring by every state and strict adherence to the Mahakumbh SOP for Covid-19 would be done,” said Kumar, adding that the personnel had followed Covid-19 precautions, including wearing of masks during the oath-taking event.
Informing that the state police is going to use several new methods and techniques for crowd management in this Mahakumbh, Kumar said, “Police departments of all neighbouring states will help in managing road traffic on routes leading to Haridwar by deploying cranes and ambulance.”
The state top cop also said that “Apart from this, to enhance coordination, it has been decided that every officer from state and Central agencies would be appointed as a nodal officer in Mahakumbh coordination committee.”
The experts, however, slammed the authorities for the event citing the surge in Covid-19 cases in the state in the last few days.
Social activist Anoop Nautiyal, who had been keeping an eye on the Covid-19 situation in the state since last year’s lockdown, said, “Such a gathering at the Ganga ghat is good for symbolism and photo-op, but should have been avoided considering the surge in Covid-19 cases in the state. These events should be avoided in future.”
Uttarakhand has so far recorded a total of 99,881 Covid-19 cases of which 95,025 have been treated. On Sunday, the state witnessed 336 new cases, the highest so far in the state taking the total active cases to 1,660.
