Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) J K Tripathy reviewed security arrangements and inspected full dress rehearsal as the district police threw a massive security cordon around the district for the peaceful conduct of 59th death anniversary of Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran on Sunday.
Mr. Tripathy, after inspecting police picketing in the prohibited routes in Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts, reviewed the security arrangements and inspected the full dress rehearsal with Inspector General of Police (South zone) S. Murugan and Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan here on Saturday.
Police cordoned off the memorial site of the Dalit leader and brought the entire Paramakudi town under security cover, deploying police force at all strategic and sensitive points. The bomb disposal and sniffer dog squads combed the memorial site and carried out anti-sabotage checks.
“We have made elaborate and tight security arrangements after dividing the district into 11 sectors for the peaceful conduct of the death anniversary,” Mr. Manivannan told The Hindu . Deployment of the strong posse of more than 5,000 police personnel, including about 3,000 men drawn from other districts began on Saturday and they would be in full strength on Sunday, he said.
Earlier, Mr. Murugan addressed police officers in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and above and explained the duties assigned to them in their respective sectors and the mechanism available to deal with any kind of situation.
Led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (Madurai range) Anand Kumar Somani, a police team inspected the security arrangements at the memorial, while local DIG Kapil Saratkar reviewed arrangements at the Special Control Room.
The district administration, which has promulgated prohibitory orders under section 144 of Cr PC, already issued 24-point do’s and don’ts for the volunteers, visiting the memorial to pay homage to the leader. It had banned all types of hired vehicles from carrying volunteers to the death anniversary site. Till Friday, leaders of eight registered political parties were allotted time for paying homage to the Dalit leader. No leader was allotted time beyond 4 p.m. so that the crowd would melt away by 6 p.m. and the event would end without any untoward incident.
