Top

Curbs at Sabarimala from midnight

Shrine opens Monday; cordoning begins.

Thiruvananthapuram: The police has started cordoning off Sabarimala areas as the hill shrine will open for Sree Chithra Attathirunal on Nov. 5 evening and close on Nov.6 night.

About 2,200 police personnel under two IGs and four SPs have been lined up for the security arrangement and they will be deployed in a phased manner. Pilgrims will be allowed to proceed to Sabarimala from Nilakkal only from Nov. 5 morning.

Meanwhile, prohibitory orders will be clamped at Sannidhanam, Pampa, Nilakkal and Elavunkal from Saturday midnight to Tuesday (Nov.6) midnight. District collector P.B. Nooh issued orders in this regard on the basis of a report from the police who had sought prohibitory orders even from Friday midnight.

Apart from the protest against the entry of women, there were also intelligence reports that left-wing extremist groups or other vested interests may try to create law and order problems by taking advantage of the sensitive situation.

Outfits like the BJP-RSS, Ayyappa Dharma Sena and Sabarimala Karama Samathi have announced action plans against the entry of young women to Sabarimala.

But the police will not allow protests near Sabarimala, and the leaders of these outfits, including Rahul Easwar, were under surveillance. The police do not anticipate a big turnout of devotees this time as the temple would be open only for a day. Tight electronic surveillance using cameras and facial recognition tools would be put in place.

Thrissur-range IG M.R. Ajith Kumar will be in charge of the security at Sannidhanam and IG Intelligence Ashok Yadav at Pampa and Nilakkal. Two SPs would be posted under each of them. Other senior officers, including IG Thiruvananthapuram-range Manoj Abraham and ADGP (south zone) Anil Kant, will proceed to Sabarimala only in case of any major law and order breakdown. The government and police higher-ups reviewed the security arrangements on Friday.

Meanwhile, the number of persons arrested in connection with violence and agitations reached 3,701 by Friday. A total of 543 cases were arrested and about 200 people were also remanded.

Sources said that the police could also exercise options like preventive detention in case of any specific intelligence inputs of attempts to create tensions. However, police sources said that so far there were no such plans.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
Next Story