3 Companies Of OSAF To Be Deployed During Rath Yatra: DGP

Cuttack: To ensure safety and security of devotees during Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Puri, special emphasis will be given to traffic and crowd management, informed Director General of Police (DGP) Rajendra Prasad Sharma on Tuesday.

Chairing a preliminary meeting for the ensuing festival, the DGP said, “Adequate number of police personnel will be deployed in civil dress on the day of ‘Srigundicha’ and ‘Bahuda Yatra’ of the deities. It has been decided to mobilize as many as three companies of Odisha Swift Action Force (OSAF) on Grand Trunk Road for effective crowd management.”

He said an inter-security agency coordination meeting, involving National Security Guards (NSGs), would be convened to chalk out plans and programmes for Rath Yatra and a mock drill conducted just before the festival with the participation of all security forces to make the arrangements error-free.

Senior officers of state police attended the meeting and expressed their views on effective security arrangement.