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Central forces for Sabarimala

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Security to be strengthened during forthcoming annual pilgrim season

PATHANAMTHITTA: For the first time in the history of Sabarimala, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) attached to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will be deployed during the forthcoming festival season, Inspector General of Police Arunkumar Sinha, who is also the Additional Police Coordinator for Sabarimala, has said.

Mr. Sinha, who visited Sabarimala as part of preparatory arrangements, was talking to The Hindu on Friday.

He said the decision to deploy the Central forces had been taken in the backdrop of the terrorist attack in some States.

The RAF would be deployed for the entire Sabarimala region during the pilgrim season, he said. There were reports that as many as double the population of the State was expected to visit Sabarimala from different parts of the country in a short span of 70 days and the State had to take elaborate security arrangements, taking into consideration the reported terrorist threat to certain places of worship across the country, he said.

Electronic surveillance

The IG said electronic surveillance would be enhanced at Sabarimala and the High Court had already cleared purchase of modern electronic gadgets for surveillance and bomb detection and disposal worth Rs.12 crore.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) would provide Rs.4.72 crore and the Home Department would bear the rest of the amount.

He said the police had started procurement of electronic gadgets exclusively for Sabarimala, that included 360-degree cameras, so that it could be in place at the pilgrim centre well before the beginning of the annual festival.

Mr. Sinha and Additional Director General of Police V.R. Rajeevan, who is also the Chief Police Coordinator, were directly monitoring the security arrangements at Sabarimala. Mr. Sinha said two units of the State commandos would also be deployed at Pampa and Sannidhanam. He said as many as 10,000 police personnel would be deployed at Sabarimala for crowd management.

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