Swearing-in ceremony keeps police on their toes

New Delhi: Around 1,600 Delhi Police personnel will keep a tight vigil at Ramlila Ground on Saturday where Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal will be sworn-in as seventh Chief Minister of the national capital.

The Security Wing will secure the stage where Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Kejriwal and six other Ministers, only the second time it is being done at a public function.

In 1996, BJP leader Sahib Singh Verma had taken oath at a ceremony in Chhatrasal Stadium. In order to ensure foolproof security, different units of Delhi Police have been entrusted with separate jobs. A central control room has been set up at the venue for real-time monitoring and to ensure proper coordination among security personnel.

Senior Delhi police officials will be present in the control room to supervise the entire event. Arrangements related to law and order and crowd management will be the responsibility of the staff of the Central Range while the Traffic Police will make arrangements to regulate vehicular movements.

CCTV cameras have been installed at more than 20 strategic locations and spotters will be deployed during the event at neighbouring high-rise buildings. Delhi Police commandoes and bomb squads will also be deployed along with anti-riot police and vehicles at the venue. 

The venue will be sanitised once this evening and again on Saturday morning by metal detectors and sniffer dogs. Other then the armed policemen in uniform, those in plain cloths will also be present among the crowd and around the venue during the event.

"We are expecting a turnout of 30 to 35 thousand for the swearing in ceremony tomorrow. Sufficient security arrangements have been put in place. Every visitor will be frisked properly manually and doorframe metal detectors have been put in place at the entry gates of the venue," said a senior Delhi Police official. 

Out of the five entry gates, one of them will be reserved for VIPs while three will be open for public entry. The fourth gate has been kept for contingency, police said. Kejriwal had on Monday, during his meeting with Delhi LG Najeeb Jung expressed his desire to take oath at Ramlila Ground, as the venue was associated with the Jan Lokpal movement and he also wanted the people to be part of the event.

Delhi Police had swung into action on Monday itself, even before the date was decided for the ceremony. Senior Police Officials including Special Commissioner (Law and Order) Deepak Mishra, Joint commissioner (Central range) Sandeep Goel, DCP (central) Alok Verma along with a team of officials had inspected the venue on Monday to determine the kind of security apparatus needed to be put in place for the oath taking ceremony.

The officials then returned and a meeting was held in the Delhi Police headquarters which was headed by Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi and other senior officials where security arrangements for the swearing in ceremony were chalked out.

According to sources, senior officials are constantly reviewing the security arrangements at the venue and the exercise will go on till the very last minute to streamline the entire apparatus.