Assam beefs up security for Puja

Having experienced the worst violence perpetrated by extremist groups —including the ULFA and NDFB — early this month, the Assam P...

Having experienced the worst violence perpetrated by extremist groups —including the ULFA and NDFB — early this month, the Assam Police have drawn up a massive security arrangement in view of the Durga puja festival that begins on Wednesday.

The government has cancelled leave of all police personnel for the next one week, while all puja committees have been instructed to construct watch towers for police personnel and volunteers in every puja pandal. Guwahati alone has 328 puja pandals at the moment.

Guwahati city police superintendent H.C. Nath said these watch towers would function as police sub-control rooms while anti-sabotage squads were also being deployed in all major towns of the state.

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In the Capital, the police have also called for the services of NCC and Home Guards personnel in order to tighten security measures.

Though Durga puja has been by and large incident free, the police are in no mood to take any chance, especially in view of the ULFA’s change in attitude.

The police on Friday arrested one person and recovered three detonators from him while he was trying to enter the main Panbazar telephone exchange in the city.