Few other cities in the world can claim of a mega event, where it is all and only about women in each and every street of the city, right from dusk to dawn.
And that itself has made the Attukal Pongala on March 5 a huge responsibility of the City police, to ensure that the tens of thousands of women who come to the city that day from various parts of the State remain safe and leave safely.
The preparations are already on, with the festival starting on Wednesday, says H. Venkatesh, City Police Commissioner.
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Elaborate security arrangements, which climb higher in scale every year, are already in place. More than 3,000 police personnel will be manning the streets, including 33 women circle inspectors, and sub-inspectors, and 515 women civil police officers.
A 30-strong Shadow police team will also include women, apart from the quick-reaction force, the Thunderbolts Kerala commando force, and other teams that will be on duty.
Policemen with handheld metal detectors, several doorframe metal detectors at various points, and various teams of the bomb detection and disposal squad too will be a crucial presence across the city during the next 10 days, Mr. Venkatesh said. The epicentre of the event, the Attukal temple, already has over 100 surveillance cameras installed at vantage points. A special police control room has been opened there. Four women’s helpline desks, led by women sub-inspectors, have been set up with women requiring any help from these desks to call up 99478 00100.
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Women, or members of the general public, who come across any suspicious person or material, have been requested to inform the police immediately, either on the City Police Control Room on 100, or the special control room on 0471-2455881 and 2455883.
A 22-year-old youngster is now depending on public donations and the humanitarian attitude of hospital authorities to survive through regular dialysis, after a fraudster’s greed destroyed all his hopes of a kidney transplant. The family of the youngster, Siyad of Pallichal, had put out a newspaper advertisement late last year, calling for kidney donors since Siyad was in a serious condition after both his kidneys failed.
It was after this that a man, calling himself Harikumar from Tiruvalla, approached them, offering help, but for a price. The family agreed to his demand for Rs.5 lakh. A
ccording to the police, the man took Rs.2.75 lakh from them in different instalments during the various medical examinations prior to the proposed transplant.
However, once he was called for a final check-up in January, he disappeared. N. Jayakumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Neyyattinkara, says investigations led them to an impersonator, Srikumar of Pandalam.
A probe is on to find whether Srikumar, earlier accused of several theft and rape cases as well, had cheated anyone else in a similar fashion, and whether he was part of a bigger racket. With many people waiting for various kinds of transplants, such fraudsters and organ donation racketeers could be on the prowl, says Mr. Jayakumar. Siyad’s hopes of paying for the transplant were dashed by the accused, the police say, adding that he is now waiting for philanthropic minds who can help him.
(Reporting by Dennis Marcus Mathew)