Police fortify polling booths with CCTVs, joint patrols for civic polls

Nagpur: Ahead of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections scheduled on January 15, Nagpur police have stepped up preparations by holding inter-departmental coordination meetings to ensure free, fair, and incident-free polling.Senior police officials are leading meetings bringing together nodal officers (ACPs), senior police inspectors (SrPIs), returning officers (ROs), assistant returning officers (AROs), and deputy engineers from various constituencies to streamline election-related arrangements.Commissioner of police Ravinder Singal said the meetings are focused on booth-level preparedness in line with the directions issued on December 18 at the Police Auditorium. "A comprehensive review of booth jurisdictions, responsibilities, and readiness has been undertaken across RO-wise, nodal officer-wise, and SrPI-wise segments, with emphasis on crowd management and peaceful polling," he said. Discussions also covered assured minimum facilities (AMFs) at polling stations.Zonal DCP Rashmitha Rao said police and NMC officials are jointly verifying mandatory checklists, including CCTVs, compound walls, clear 100m and 200m perimeters, signage, toilets, lighting, and power supply. "Nodal officers and SrPIs are conducting site inspections, flagging deficiencies on the spot, and escalating issues to zonal officers and ROs or AROs for immediate rectification," she said.Rao, who convened a coordination meeting on December 24, said booth readiness remained the top agenda item. A key directive from senior officers, including joint commissioner of police Navinchandra Reddy, mandates 100% physical verification of all polling booths by December 26, with ROs and AROs accompanying SrPIs and ACPs. "This is aimed at identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in advance," Reddy said.Police have independently classify polling booths as critical, sensitive, or vulnerable, based on past crime records, law-and-order incidents, local geography, and demographic factors, Singal said.Rao said learnings from recent nagar panchayat elections in Besa-Pipla and Bahadura, as well as the November 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Zone 4, have been incorporated into bandobast planning. This includes refinements in barricading, deployment, patrolling, and voting-day precautions. "Police personnel are working round-the-clock on multiple fronts, including election security, New Year bandobast, and routine crime control," she said.Meetings held at zonal DCP offices also reviewed incidents reported during the 2017 NMC elections, with officers analysing causes and finalising preventive strategies to achieve incident-free polling. Issues related to overlapping booths in some zones were flagged, and nodal officers were instructed to coordinate corrections through ROs, Reddy said.Singal said deployment of static surveillance teams (SSTs), flying squad teams (FSTs), and video surveillance teams (VSTs) is being optimised, while intelligence (khufiya) and detective branch (DB) units have been activated."Staff leave has been restricted to ensure maximum manpower availability, and riot control equipment has been made operational for drills starting December 26," Singal said.In Rao's office, ROs and AROs from Dhantoli, Hanuman Nagar, and Nehru Nagar NMC zones, along with ACPs, SrPIs, and khufiya personnel from the respective police stations, were briefed on joint responsibilities.Singal said the coordinated efforts are expected to strengthen inter-departmental coordination, expedite AMF upgrades, and ensure robust bandobast for the elections.