Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Television network for policing during Onam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city police will install a network of manned television cameras placed on elevated platforms to monitor the activities at 18 important festival venues and the main thoroughfare (from Museum to East Fort) during the Onam Week celebrations, beginning September 10.

Police personnel equipped with wireless sets will assist the camera operators. The live feed (from 5.30 p.m. to 11 p.m.) will be relayed real time through cable to the police control room where it will be recorded.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Law and Order, N. Gopalakrishnan said the closed-circuit television network will help protect the public from sex offenders, drunks, pickpockets, chain snatchers and boisterous revellers.

It will also be a first line of defence against any sabotage attempt. Anti-sabotage squads and ‘sniffer dogs’ trained to detect explosives will be deployed at the venues. The cameras will be placed at 17 points, including the Museum gates, Kanakakunnu Palace entrance and grounds, R.R. Lamp Junction, Palayam, Spencer, Statue, Pulimood, Overbridge and East Fort.

Plainclothesmen and women will be deployed at festival venues, bus stops, shopping areas, parking lots, markets, and bus and railway stations. Assistant Commissioner (Control Room) K. Suresh Kumar will be in charge of the ‘crime busters’ squad.

Citizens/tourists in distress can contact the squad on 100 or 1090. Plainclotheswomen will travel undercover on public transport buses to apprehend pickpockets and those who harass women.

The police are identifying places in East Fort to relocate pavement small-time traders who hawk their goods (at a lower price compared to big shops).

Large sections of the public buy goods, mostly clothes, from these hawkers.

However, the pavement trade is a major cause of traffic congestion at East Fort, Thampanoor and Over Bridge localities.

The police said traders, particularly in the crowded Chalai market, would not be allowed to rent out the space in front of their shops to hawkers.

Traders and citizens have been told to report attempts on the part of rowdy elements (often acting under the guise of local clubs) to extort money under the pretext of organising Onam celebrations.

Sanction to use loud speakers will be given only sparingly and those who cause sound pollution would be prosecuted.

The DCP has ordered Assistant Commissioners, Circle Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors to patrol crowded festival and shopping localities in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

The police will prosecute those who consume liquor in vehicles, at public places and on unlicensed premises.

A total of 2,000 police personnel, including officers, will be deployed in the city on September 16 afternoon, the concluding day of the celebrations when the pageant will be held.

The pageant will have more than 100 mobile displays. It will start from Kowdiar and end at East Fort. Anti-sabotage teams will check the displays before the pageantry.

The police have earmarked the Museum-Nandavanam road, Museum-Kanakanagar lane, Senate Hall, Tagore Theatre, Press Club Road, Government Press Road, Killipalam bund road and Injackal Bypass for parking of vehicles on September 16.

Police personnel will be deployed on these stretches to prevent theft of vehicles.

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