Police beef up security for festival

MUMBAI: The city police are making elaborate arrangements for the 11-day Ganesh festival, which will begin on September 5, and have appealed to the public to report

MUMBAI: The city police are making elaborate arrangements for the 11-day Ganesh festival, which will begin on September 5, and have appealed to the public to report about any suspicious activity they come across during the festive season.

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Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti said, “All security arrangements are being made and there is no specific alert. We want people to tell us about any suspicious activity they see.”

The police plan to deploy many personnel at major Ganpati pandals like Lalbaugcha Raja and Ganeshgalli, among others. “Thousands of volunteers from non-government organisations and Ganpati mandals will also be helping us maintain law and order in the city,” said a senior police official.

Soon, additional commissioners of all the five regions and hundreds of Ganpati mandals from across the city will meet to make the mandals aware about security and to ensure effective co-ordination and co-operation.

Apart from the 45,000 police officials in the city, paramilitary forces will also be kept on standby. The police have also asked the major Ganpati mandals to put up their own CCTV surveillance and ensure vehicles are not parked in crowded areas.