50,000 cops on roads over 10 days

FIVE TRAFFIC CONTROL ROOMS WILL BE SET UP AT GIRGAUM, SHIVAJI PARK CHOWPATTY, BADA MASJID BANDRA, JUHU CHOWPATTY AND GANESH GHATPOWAI

MUMBAI: The next 10 days will see heavy security in the city for a trouble-free Ganesh festival and Muharram.

The Mumbai police will deploy 50,000 officers in casual clothes to maintain law and order. Officers of the local arms division, state reserve police force (SRPF), riot control police, quick response teams (QRT) and bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) will also be deployed. Special groups of 200 women cops will keep a tab on molestation incidents.

The police will coordinate with the civic body, disaster management cell, fire brigade, Coast Guard and Navy. Around 5,000 CCTVS will also be installed and swimmers and coast guards will be roped in to help during immersion. There are more than 6,455 sarvajanik mandals, 1,55,414 household idols and 11,813 gauri idols across the city. Heavy police presence will be seen at the city’s popular immersion routes.

Five traffic control rooms will be set up at Girgaum Chowpatty, Shivaji Park Chowpatty, Bada Masjid Bandra, Juhu Chowpatty and Ganesh Ghat-powai for the next 10 days.

The traffic police have closed 53 roads and marked 56 roads as one-way. Eighteen roads have also been closed for goods vehicles and 99 places have been made no-parking zones.

“Around 2,800 traffic officers and 1,000 traffic wardens will be deployed. Various NGOS including volunteers from Civil Defence, Anirudha’s Academy of Disaster Management, etc, are assisting,” said Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic).