MUMBAI: A police force of 25000 men and women in khaki will fan out on streets of Mumbai for Ganpati visarjan on Saturday. “Around 6500 Sarvajanik Ganpati idols and 1.75 lakh household Ganpatis will be immersed on Saturday at 65 natural water bodies and 205 artificial ponds created for the purpose. The 10000 strong surveillance camera network in the city will be used to monitor crowds, besides putting up cameras on the routes taken up by processions,” said joint commissioner, law and order, Satya Narayan.As part of the bandobast, there were be 12 additional commissioners, 40 deputy commissioners, 61 assistant commissioners, 3000 officers and 18000 constables from the Mumbai Police force. There will also be 14 companies of State Reserve Police Force and four companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), besides bomb detection and disposal squads, CCTV vans, Quick Response Teams and around 3000 traffic police personnel. For the first time, AI will be used by the Mumbai Police during Ganpati visarjan bandobast for crowd management and monitoring procession routes.There will be particularly heavy police deployment at popular immersion spots like Girgaon Chowpatty, Dadar, Juhu, Versova and Powai and for prominent mandals. For women’s safety, Nirbhaya Squads will be patrolling the streets, besides policewomen dressed in plainclothes. Beat marshalls and mobile patrolling vans from every police station will also be out to ensure the immersion process goes on smoothly.On the Railways, the Govt Railway Police force will deploy 454 personnel at Dadar, Churchgate, Wadala and other crowded station areas and level-crossings.
