Rakesh Asthana chairs first interstate police meeting ahead of Independence Day

The meeting was attended by senior police officers from Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Newly appointed Delhi Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana emphasised on preventive measures such as conducting tenants’ verification, checking hotels and guest houses, and ensuring strict border checks to curb movement of weapons and criminals into the Capital, as he held his first interstate police coordination meeting on Wednesday, ahead of the Independence Day celebrations.

Rakesh Asthana held his first interstate police coordination meeting on Wednesday, ahead of the Independence Day celebrations. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/ Hindustan Times) (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

The meeting was attended by senior police officers from Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir.

“The objective of the meeting was to share terror-related intelligence and inputs, take necessary measures in the run up to the Independence Day celebrations and also to deliberate upon plans for bigger coordinated action among states in areas of policing which have implications for national capital,” said the deputy commissioner of police, Chinmoy Biswal, who is also the Delhi Police’s spokesperson.

“The need to keep a watchful eye on movement of paragliders, drones and other flying objects from open areas on the day of (Independence Day) function was discussed and it was agreed to share advance information about the movement of any suspicious elements,” said Biswal.

Ahead of the Independence Day celebrations in the national capital, several police teams across the city are being trained by Air Force and the National Security Guards (NSG) in dealing with unfriendly objects in the air.

In Old Delhi, where the Red Fort is located, police will have 360-degree surveillance of the air space to check for drones, which could be used by terror groups.

Only last month, the Delhi Police issued an order prohibiting the use of drones across the city. The order came about after drones dropped explosives at the Air Force base in Jammu on June 27.