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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Police to train pandal volunteers for Durga Puja in Kolkata

Police to train pandal volunteers

A “first-of-its-kind” security briefing was held at the Lalbazar police headquarters for organisers of major pujas in the city and its suburbs on Tuesday.

The director-general of state police, A.B. Vora, city police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti and other senior police officers were present at the meeting, which was presided over by home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti.

Senior officials of health, fire services and other departments and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation also attended the meeting.

The cops urged the puja organisers to draw up a list of volunteers who could be trained to watch out for suspicious activities or items and handle any eventuality.

The volunteers, who would have to make up for the lack of adequate police personnel, would be trained in the next two days by senior officers. They would screen the crowd in shifts during Puja.

All mega-budget puja organisers will have to instal CCTVs and equip their volunteers with hand-held metal detectors this year.

“We have also asked the organisers to coordinate with local hospitals so that in case of an emergency, the injured can be treated as quickly as possible. The committees have been asked to keep first-aid boxes at hand. We have also made arrangements to reserve a few beds in government hospitals and keep necessary medicines in place,” the home secretary said.

“The cops have also suggested that watch towers be set up and rooftops of highrise buildings near pandals be used for surveillance. But we don’t know how feasible this would be round-the-clock,” said Tapesh Dhar, the president of Garia Nabadurga Puja Committee. source: the telegraph india

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