Maratha Kranti Morcha in Mumbai: 10,000 cops, drones, CCTVs to watch protesters

The rally is scheduled to begin at 11am from Byculla and end at Azad Maidan

More than 10,000 police personnel, several drones and CCTV cameras will keep watch over south Mumbai when two lakh people take the streets today to participate in the Maratha Kranti Morcha.

Preparations at Azad Maidan on Tuesday. (Bhushan Koyande)

The rally is scheduled to begin at 11am from Byculla and end at Azad Maidan. The police said commuters must watch out for massive traffic jams on roads leading to south Mumbai. Apart from listing the roads that will be shut for the rally, the police will also have their Twitter handle posting live traffic updates.

“We will use CCTV surveillance to monitor crowds and will using our Twitter handle, @MumbaiPolice, and FM radio stations to provide people with live traffic updates,” said Rashmi Karandikar, deputy commissioner of police, operations.

Another senior police official said the bandobast for the rally would be “as challenging as the Ganpati bandobast as the crowd will be concentrated in one area”.

The entire southbound stretch of Dr BA Road — from the fire brigade junction in Dadar (East) — will be closed for traffic from 9am on Wednesday. Both stretches of the JJ Flyover will be closed for traffic. The police have arranged parking for protesters at the Bombay Port Trust (BPT).

Late on Tuesday, the city’s dabbawallahs announced they will also join the Maratha protest rally.

They said that they would not be working on Wednesday to participate in the rally.

The 10,000-strong force will include State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), Local Arms Force (LAF), Riot Control Police (RCP), Traffic police and officials and personnel from the local police stations.