The district administration fortified the official residence of CM Hemant Soren on Kanke Road as the students’ protest entered its 20th day on Thursday. As speculations floated throughout the day that security had been beefed up due to the students’ protest reaching the CM’s doorstep, police stated the fortification was done keeping the students’ protest in mind.
“Day by day, student agitation is getting stronger with the involvement of political leaders and other organisations. After students broke eight barricades to reach the Assembly on August 10, the district administration is getting input that students may repeat this action to reach the CM house on short notice and create a law and order problem. In light of this input, the administration is alert and leaving no stone unturned to ensure proper security of the CM House,” the official said.
Another official said the security measures deployed to fortify the CM house include multilayered barricading, heavy security deployment and strict traffic diversion.
“Multi-tiered iron and concrete barricades blocking all access points to the main premises have been set up. This heavy barricading extends continuously across a 500 m stretch surrounding the periphery of the chief ministerial residence. Hundreds of armed personnel, anti-riot police, and security operators have been stationed heavily along the boundary lines and main gates. The entire high-security zone surrounding Kanke Road has been cordoned off, with all public movement restricted and traffic diverted to prevent the agitating students from breaching the perimeter,” the police official said.
Contacted SSP Rakesh Ranjan said the security arrangement had been done in the wake of Independence Day.
{{/usCountry}}Contacted SSP Rakesh Ranjan said the security arrangement had been done in the wake of Independence Day.
{{/usCountry}}“No fear of students’ agitation; security arrangement has been done as a security measure in the wake of Independence Day,” SSP Ranjan said.
After students came to know about this fortification they clarified that they had no plan to march towards CM’s residence.
“As of now, we have not announced any plans to lay siege to the CM’s residence. Any future announcements will be made by the spokespersons of our JPSC-JSSC Reform Morcha through press conferences. Therefore, please disregard any misleading reports for the time being. I also wish to clarify that we will not compromise in any way on our demands regarding the JSSC CGL,” Piyush Kumar Singh, spokesperson of JPSC-JSSC Reform Morcha said.