A core team of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a special anti-riot force, is on a familiarisation exercise in Thanjavur district to get to know about the district’s topography and collect vital information required for tackling communal violence or riot-like situations swiftly if it were to occur in future.
Attached to the 105 Battalion based in Coimbatore, the RAF team will visit various sub divisions falling within the district as part of their mission. The 60-member platoon is on a week-long familiarisation exercise with assistance provided by the district police.
The RAF is a well-trained force of the Central Reserve Police Force constituted to handle communal riots and riot-like situations and help innocent persons ravaged by riots besides undertaking rescue operations.
Armed with necessary paraphernalia and attired in blue fatigues, the team had already visited places including Thiruvaiyaru, Kallanai and Pattukottai. The team will collect the complete profile of the district, population of every division, places where communal and religious violence had erupted in the past, number of police stations, routes to reach the “sensitive” areas, entry and exit points of such places, number of vital installations, major religious places of worship and fire stations besides ascertaining information about any hardcore anti-social elements.
During the course of their mission, the team will also touch the coastal parts of the district which has been categorised as “hypersensitive”.
The mission which concludes on August 30 has been undertaken on a direction from the Ministry of Home Affairs, said a senior RAF officer. The compiled information would be sent to the battalion and from thereon to the Ministry of Home Affairs through the force headquarters, said the officer.
Familiarisation of routes would facilitate RAF personnel to reach the spot and take positions swiftly without loss of time, he added. The team explained about the equipment used by them during operations and the ways to control a riot situation to the district police personnel on Sunday.
