Madurai city police officials heaved a sigh of relief as the roadshow of Union Home Minister Amit Shah scheduled on a relatively narrow stretches of roads in the city passed off without any trouble on Friday.
With Mr. Amit Shah being a Z-plus security protectee, the police left no stone unturned on the one-km stretch of his roadshow route. The police were more concerned about high-rise buildings dotting all across the route. Besides, the entire route was full of commercial buildings where outsiders frequently visit.
To ensure that no vehicle is parked on the entire stretch of the roads, starting from Murugan Temple on Netaji Road to East Masi Street via South Aavani Moola Street and Vengalakadai Street, the police cordoned it off right from early morning. As the day progressed, all the lanes and bylanes were barricaded and sealed preventing movement of people into the selected roads.
“Our next concern was to keep the crowd away from the vicinity of the cavalcade of the VVIP, amidst the frenzy of an election rally,” a police officer said.
Barricades were erected on both sides of the roads allowing enough space for the convoy to move and keeping the crowd on the road margins. Bomb detection and disposal squads sanitised every inch of the road on the entire stretch.
“All those who entered the roadshow stretch were allowed only through door-frame metal detectors installed at 12 vantage points,” the officer said. Over 100 police personnel were posted on the terrace of high-rise buildings and the movement of inmates on the terrace was restricted during the day.
The first spell of summer showers in the afternoon also added slight tension to the police. However, with no rain in the event helped the police.
While as per the original security plan, some women cadre were allowed to walk along with the VVIP convoy, scores of cadre joined them and moved along. However, the presence of commandos of the VVIP security and the local police formed two layers of security ring around his vehicle.
Besides, top officials, including Commissioner of Police J. Loganathan, Deputy Commissioners, and Superintendent of Police, Anti-Terrorist Squad, V. Sasi Mohan, supervised the security arrangements.
