18,000 police personnel deployed for bandobust ahead Deepavali festival

Greater Chennai City Police deploy 18,000 personnel for Deepavali festival security, including CCTV monitoring, drone cameras, and crime prevention measures.

The Greater Chennai City Police (GCP) have deployed 18,000 police personnel to ensure the safety and security of the public during Deepavali festival shopping in the city. 

On the orders of Chennai Commissioner of Police A. Arun, in view of Deepavali festival to be celebrated on Sunday, elaborate security arrangements have been put in place to ensure the safety of the public congregating in large numbers in commercial hubs for shopping. 

Besides crime prevention initiatives, measures have been taken to control crowd and regulate traffic to avoid congestion. Special control rooms have been established at commercial hubs, such as T.Nagar, Purasawalkam and NSC Bose Road. These control rooms will function round-the-clock and can be reached over 7358543058, 843866922 at T.Nagar, 7824867234 at Purasawalkam and 8122360906 at NSC Bose Road. 

In a press release, Mr. Arun said 18,000 police personnel, including personnel drawn from Law and Order, Crime, Traffic, Armed Reserve, Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP) and Home Guards will be deployed for providing three-tier security arrangements. 

A total of 17 temporary watch towers have been set up at four places — T.Nagar, Washermenpet, Kilpauk and Flower Bazaar. Police personnel have been deployed on a rotational basis for monitoring through 21 binoculars.

Five temporary police control rooms and 10 temporary help desks have been set up in T.Nagar, Washermenpet, Purasawalkam and Flower Bazaar areas, for monitoring CCTV cameras, tracking movement of criminals and handing over children, who get separated from their families to the appropriate people.

An additional 42 CCTV cameras have been installed in T.Nagar and Washermanpet, for monitoring current events (Live), whereby crimes are also being monitored. Instructions are given to the public through 19 public address system to prevent occurrence of thefts and crimes, while ensuring there are no traffic jams. Instructions are also being given with respect to ways of protecting cell phones, money, gold jewellery and other belongings.