Security Beefed Up In Odisha Capital Ahead Of May 25 Polls, Commissionerate Police Gives Details

Bhubaneswar: As Bhubaneswar goes to polls on Saturday, the Commissionerate Police has stepped up vigilance and has made elaborate arrangements to ensure free, fair and peaceful election.

Police said at least 525 booths will have webcasting provisions while adequate Central Armed Police Police Forces (CAPF) personnel will be deployed in every critical booth with one officer in cluster locations for four or more booths.

There will also be an additional CAPF unit for cluster locations having four polling stations. Further, women police personnel will also be deployed in 421 Sakhi booths.

Of the 1,132 booths in BBSR Urban Police District (UPD), the Commissionerate Police has identified 152 booths as critical and 16 as vulnerable.

The arrangements made at booth level, mobile parties, strong room are based on ECI guidelines and ground requirements, Commissionerate Police said in a press statement.

As a preventive measure for peaceful conduct of elections, miscreants who may create trouble during the polling have been identified while 15 File Streaming Technology (FST) with two police personnel, 30 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) with two personnel personnel and eight border check posts have already been made functional since May 10.

The Commissionerate Police has so far seized five illegal arms, 24 rounds of ammunitions, five live bombs and 40 kg of explosives besides executing 491 non-bailable warrants (NBWs), registering 764 excise cases, seizing 17,259 litres of liquor, arresting 251 people in excise cases and registering 48 cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Besides these, 308 kg of ganja and 669 kg of brown sugar have been seized and 84 people have also been arrested.

Among the other measures taken include the deployment of 51 mobile parties with each mobile party manned by one Senior Inspector, one havildar and two armed constables for 8-12 booths. There would be one officer of the rank of ACP to supervise five mobile parties. Bike Mobile Parties (47) have also been formed with one ASI and one constable in each party for distant and critical booths.

One officer of the rank of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police will supervise the security arrangement in one Assembly constituency, and for the first time five contingency units comprising one officer and two men in a vehicle to ensure rescue, evacuation and hospitalisation of polling personnel, have also been constituted.

While one round-the-clock unified control room is already operational at DPO, BBSR under the supervision of one Additional DCP, two ad hoc control rooms will also function at BJB Autonomous College and Panchgaon village under Airfield police station, police said.

The Commissionerate Police has also developed a Police Patrolling and Booth Monitoring System (PPBMS) under which a dedicated App has been developed by ORSAC through which information and visuals of incidents at the booth level can reach the Unified Control Room quickly.