Mock drill at shrine to check preparedness of police

NASHIK: The zone I police conducted a mock drill at the Kalaram temple in the city on Friday to check the preparedness of personeel in the event of a terrorist attack.
Senior police officials including, deputy and assistant commissioners of police (ACP) and inspectors of all stations from zone I comprising Sakarwada, Panchavati, Adgaon, Bhadrakali and Gangapur, took part in the exercise.The mock drill began at 12.15pm and continued till 1.15pm. The drill was conducted presuming the risk to devotees in the event of them being taken hostage by terrorists.
ACP Ravindra Wadekar said, "Kalaram is one of the most important temples in the city and a possibility of a terrorists attack there or any other religious institution cannot be ruled out. So we thought it necessary to conduct the mock drill."
He said rubber bullets were used for cross firing between the personnel posing as terrorists and police officials. Teams of the quick response team (QRT), bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) and others also participated in the mock drill. The BDDS staff gave a demonstration of disposing a bomb.
Wadekar added devotees at the Kalaram temple were taken aback initially when the police arrived in large numbers and the cross firing started. However, they got acquainted with the police exercise.
Police officials said they have been conducting such exercises on a regular basis to check the efficiency of the force in case such a situation arises.
Officials said the mock drill was also necessary considering shravan was starting from Sunday and a large number of devotees would visit various temples in the city.