Mumbai: In order to thwart any untoward
incident during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival starting
September 1, Police have asked about 12,000 mandals across the
city to keep a vigil and install CCTVs.
"Keeping in mind the recent blasts, we need to be
cautious this year. Hence we have decided that all big mandals
would install CCTV cameras. We would also make use of metal
detectors and our volunteers would also keep an eye on
suspicious activities," Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav
Samanvay Samiti, Head, Dahi Bhavkar said.
"We have asked police officials to provide training to
our volunteers," he said.
The Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti
is an umbrella body of all the mandals in the city.
The ganesh mandals today had a meeting with Mayor
Shraddha Jadhav, Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar and
Additional Police Commissioner Naval Bajaj at the BMC
headquarters.
"The Additional Police Commissioner Naval Bajaj has
made it compulsory for all mandals to install CCTV cameras. We
have told them that since small mandals cannot afford to
install cameras, we have sought financial assistance from
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and would meet him soon,"
Bhavkar said.
"Each mandal would require at least five-six CCTV
cameras. It will cost about Rs 1.5 lakh to install cameras for
all the eleven days of the festival. Small mandals would not
be in a position to shell out this amount," Bhavkar said.
PTI
