Pre-Deepavali ops: Shopping hubs in city under khaki watch

After the exhaustive Modi-Xi summit in which the police had to ensure the safety of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is now gearing up to man the festive rush in the run up to Deepavali.

In the major shopping hubs, including T Nagar, Purasawalkam and Flower Bazaar, the city police have already erected watchtowers with public alert system, repaired faulty CCTV cameras and posted additional strength.

In T Nagar, the biggest shopping hub which attracts the maximum crowd ahead of Deepavali, three CCTV cameras with face tagger application have been placed at crucial junctions on North Usman Road, Ranganathan street and at Pothy’s point. Also, 10 police personnel with body-worn cameras will be on the rounds throughout the shopping zones. “The face-tagged cameras have been functional from October 1 and they will be active till the end of the month. If a suspect, who is already in our crime records, is captured in the cameras, we will immediately receive an alert on the phone with his/her photo and location. 

We have also written to senior officials to provide us with a drone camera for surveillance on days when the crowd swells,” said D Ashok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, T Nagar police district. While the area has 1,902 CCTV cameras at 569 locations, an additional 37 cameras have been recently installed.

As the police anticipate a footfall of about five lakhs this weekend, they have posted 50 armed reserve personnel and 50 home guards and 50 other rank personnel across the city, who will be supervised by five inspectors and three assistant commissioners. Also, the personnel from the crime wing will move among the public in plain clothes to look for suspects. This is apart from 175 traffic police personnel who will regulate the vehicle movement at crowded spots. “While the strength has been divided into two, those who work in the morning shift from 9 am to 2 pm should return in the evening to help the other batch in the peak traffic hours,” said Mambalam Inspector S Balamurali.

As a preventive measure, the Mambalam police have arrested 71 regular offenders on Tuesday night alone and added that the exercise would continue in the coming days. Meanwhile, Amma Patrol vehicles will also roam around crowded places to attend to women-specific grievances.

North Chennai, Flower Bazaar, Seven Wells and Elephant Gate are the major wholesale trade hubs and people throng here to buy jewels, sweets, clothing and crackers ahead of Deepavali. To make the manning effective on crowded streets, the police here have an advanced public addressing system. In Elephant Gate, all the CCTV camera points (approximately 300) have been installed with speakers and police personnel at the control room can monitor them live and give instructions to the public or police personnel there. In the Flower Bazaar police station jurisdiction, all major roads have been covered under the public addressing system. “Instructions can be given either to one specific speaker or for the entire stretch. This helps reduce the delay in attending a grievance. This will make the patrolling easier with the available strength. The system was already in place, but now we have reinstated in the original form and have linked it with CCTV surveillance. Steps are underway to make the announcements automated,” said Assistant Commissioner (Flower Bazaar) S Lakshmanan. The officer also added that cycle patrolling will also be intensified as the festival draws closer. “Strength from other stations within the police district will be roped in apart from the Armed Reserve personnel,” he added. 

Similarly, in the Kilpauk police district, an integrated surveillance system will be implemented from Friday as the crowd is expected to swell in Purasaiwalkam and surrounding areas like Ayanavaram from this weekend. Kilpauk Deputy Commissioner M Manohar said, “A special bandobust plan covering crime prevention and crowd regulations is being derived. Watchtowers will be erected at vantage points. Visitors will be guided through the Public Alert System. At least, 300 police personnel, supervised by two Assistant Commissioners and six inspectors, and 18 sub-inspectors will be moving among the crowd. Pamphlets with photos of notorious criminals will also be issued to visitors to be wary of them,” he said. In Velachery, the police are drawing plans to regulate vehicle movement to reduce traffic congestion. “The 100-ft road, Velachery main road, Gandhi Road and Taramani link road have been identified as spots where traffic would get stuck and strength will be roped to take preventive steps to control traffic,” said Velachery Assistant Commissioner J Rajiv Prince Aaron.