1,600 cops to be deployed for India-Windies match

VIJAYAWADA: There is jubilation in Vijayawada as the city readies for the carnival on Sunday when Rahul Dravid-led India will take on Carl Hooper-led West Indies in the seriesdeciding one-dayer at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium here.
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is doing everything in its control to spruce up the city for the match.It is spending Rs 5 lakh for the purpose.
The South Central Railway and the APSRTC too are getting into the act and are decking up the Vijayawada Railway Station and the Pandit Nehru Bus Station to give it a colourful look. The cost, Rs 1 lakh. Business firms are doing their bit to keep up the festivities and enliven the spirits of cricket buffs.
A police force of 1,600 personnel, headed by the Vijayawada commissioner of police N V Surendra Babu, will stand guard at the Stadium. Thirteen officers of the rank of deputy superintendent of police, 51 inspectors, 127 sub-inspectors, 288 assistant sub-inspector\head constables, 807 constables, 300 home guards and two platoons of the Andhra Pradesh Special Police will be on duty to not only safeguard the players but also to control the 30,000 spectators who turn up for the match.
The force for this massive and unprecedented security arrangement is being drawn from the Eluru and Guntur police ranges besides the Vijayawada commissionerate and the APSP sixth battalion at Mangalagiri town. As many as 50 policemen in plain clothes will encircle the boundary rope inside the cricket ground to keep a close eye on the spectators. In fact, 14 closed-circuit cameras, hooked to a makeshift police control room, will do a similar job in the galleries at the IGMC Stadium. Leave alone things like water bottles, matchboxes and other possible missiles, even newspapers and placards will be totally prohibited in the stands. The police have also imposed a ban on cellular phones.