As part of enhanced security ahead of the Indo-China summit, the State Fisheries Department has instructed fishermen in hamlets in and around Mamallapuram against venturing into the sea from Wednesday till the end of the summit.
According to Fisheries Department officials, there are 44 fishing hamlets from Kottivakkam to Kadambakkam on the East Coast Road, falling under the Kancheepuram Fisheries Department jurisdiction.
IDs to be checked
“We have instructed fishermen in 22 hamlets, from Injambakkam to Pudupattinam, not to venture into the sea. The fishermen in other villages can go fishing, but will have to compulsorily carry their identity cards, as there will be checking by the navy and coastal security personnel,” said an official from the Fisheries Department.
The instructions were passed on to the respective panchayats and they, in turn, informed the fishermen. “We will suffer some losses due to this,” said a fisherman from a hamlet in Mamallapuram.
Officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Special Protection Group and Chinese delegates made another inspection of all monuments in Mamallapuram, ahead of the VVIP visits. “They checked the security measures in place,” said a police officer.
Meanwhile, the Kancheepuram district police have installed close to 1,000 cameras in and around Mamallapuram town.
“We also have cameras with facial recognition features. This will be helpful in identifying suspects, and we will upload pictures of criminals from our database into the camera’s software,” said a senior police officer.
Security beefed up
This will be monitored from a control room set up in the town.
“We have not got a clear picture of the route the VVIPs will be taking, but we have deployed 10,000 police personnel for security. Their numbers will be increased in the coming days. The Special Protection Group is monitoring the security measures,” the officer said.
