Amid complaints of poll code violations, the city police has ramped up surveillance and security in temple town Srirangam ahead of the by election.
A separate pre-poll security scheme had been put in place in Srirangam to deal with emergency situations involving the central paramilitary forces and check poll code violations.
The deployment of Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) at vantage positions in Srirangam area forms part of the detailed pre-poll security measure put in place.
Five QRTs armed with necessary paraphernalia have been posted at places, including Devi cinema, Moolathoppu and Amma Mandapam to act swiftly in case of any crisis situation, police sources said.
A couple of QRTs have been kept as a standby at the police control room and in Fort Police station limits. The QRTs would function in two shifts. Pickets have been posted at 10 places in Srirangam area with three of them exclusively manned by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and the rest by the Tamil Nadu Special Police and the City Police personnel.
In addition to eight regular checks posts falling within the city limits, four more have been created to check violations.
The CRPF personnel have been deployed at the check posts round-the-clock, say the sources.
Apart from QRTs, Striking Forces have also been posted at designated places headed by Inspectors.
The sources said CRPF personnel have been posted at other vantage places such as the central bus stand and chathram bus stand.
The city police have shored up their intelligence collection mechanism by deputing more personnel for this assignment. The intelligence collection strength has been augmented, say the sources.
With the Srirangam Assembly constituency having a vast jurisdiction encompassing 322 booths, police personnel would be drawn from various districts falling under the central zone to augment the manpower strength for security duty on the day of polling.
In addition to Tiruchi City Police, Tiruchi Rural Police and paramilitary personnel, over 300 police personnel from Pudukottai, Karur, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, and Nagapattinam districts were expected to land at Tiruchi on Wednesday for poll duty.
The by-poll is scheduled to be held on February 13. The sources said a separate security plan was drafted for the counting centre where paramilitary personnel would be deployed to beef up security.
Quick Reaction Teams posted at vantage places
Intelligence mechanism shored up
Published - February 11, 2015 12:00 am IST
