Ganesh Utsav will tax the city police to the limit this year. Added to the security provisions for CoP-11, will be policing of some 60,000 pandals expected in the city limits alone, which is more than the 40,000 pandals erected last year.
“Security will be provided at every level. We’ve made it compulsory for all pandals to take proper police approval before they set up. They also need to give their preferred day and route for the immersion so that we can allot adequate security,” police commissioner Anurag Sharma said. He said big pandals like the ones at Khairatabad and Balapur are being given round-the-clock security. All police stations have been allotted extra cellphones to make it easier for people to reach them. Around 14,000-15,000 men have been allotted just for the festival.
Meanwhile, organisers are already creating trouble. Stating that insisting on police approval is a violation of people’s rights, the Balanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi said it will only intimate the police. It also said that the Chief Minister has been asked to provide free electricity to all the pandals.