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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, February 26: Central and para-military forces will join the 38,000-strong Mumbai police in their unprecedented security arranged for patrol duty of sensitive areas during the Lok Sabha elections scheduled on Saturday.
Around 30 platoons of the State Reserve Police SRP, a dozen companies of the Border Security Force BSF, Central Industrial Security Force CISF and Central Reserve Protection Force CRPF each have been summoned to complement the massive security arrangement. Additional Rapid Action Force RAF jawans and homeguards have also been deployed. The Additional Commissioner of Police, north-west region, Satyapal Singh, conceded that the deployment of the military force was unprecedented, and exceeded the number of security forces deployed in the last elections.
According to the Additional Director General of Police, law and order, S S Puri, quot;Besides the state police, 55 companies one company officially has over a hundred jawans of para-military forces, 158 SRP companies and 32,000 homeguards have been deployed all over the state.quot;
He added, quot;Mumbai alone has over 350 sensitive8217; polling centres that are prone to violence which may disrupt the polling process. quot;There are 73 sensitive centres in the north-western suburbs, 47 in the north-eastern suburbs while the rest of the sensitive centres are in the main city.8221; The number of alerts issued by the intelligence agencies for this election is a record of sorts. quot;We have received more than 24 alerts during the last one month,quot; confided a deputy commissioner of police. The alerts issued by the Intelligence Bureau IB and other agencies included threats from the Punjabi and Kashmiri ultras as also from the Mumbai mafia. Besides, the five police controls wereflooded with the calls and queries about the landing of arms consignments in the city.
Following the bomb blasts in Coimbatore on February 14, the city has received a number of false bomb threats. The Mumbai police has had a tough time responding. In the last 28 days alone, the police has had to address at least half a dozen panic calls of bomb threats. The first bomb hoax call was reported in January, opposite gate No 5 of the Larsen and Toubro Company at Saki Naka. Three bomb threats were reported on the very same day, February 19. The panic calls were received from Jayaben Khot School, at Borivli east, while two bomb hoaxes were reported from the diamond market at Panchratna building, one in the morning and another in the evening. Bomb hoaxes were also reported at the Arya Vidya Mandir College at Bandra on February 23 and at Vijay Kund building at Andheri on February 16. The increasing number of alerts, bomb hoaxes and rumours of arms consignment in the city has shaken the Mumbai police. The policehave been kept on their toes, and have launched intensive searches for potential disruptive elements in the city.
quot;We have been carrying out combing operations and naka bandis on a daily basis, which was not the case in the earlier elections,quot; disclosed Deputy Commissioner of Police, zone-II, Param Bir Singh.
