Odisha Hockey Men’s WC: State police faces ‘toughest challenge’

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Bhubaneswar: The Director General of Police, RP Sharma, Monday said maintaining security during the upcoming men’s World Cup hockey would be one of the toughest challenges for Odisha Police in recent times. The mega event that is scheduled to begin November 28 will continue till December 16.
Addressing the press at the DGP camp office here, he said, “This is a mega event which is the first of its kind in Bhubaneswar and for Odisha and one of the toughest challenges for Odisha Police.”
He also said a large number of people were expected to throng the Barabati stadium in Cuttack November 28 — when the tournament kicks off in Bhubaneswar –for the World Cup celebrations which is going to be attended by Shah Rukh Khan and AR Rehman. He said the high footfall will be a major challenge for the police. He informed that the main aim of the state police would be to make sufficient security arrangements so that the event passed off peacefully.
“Our main objective is to see that the entire event passes off peacefully,” Sharma said. He said that the police have made multiple arrangements as per requirement and nature of task at different locations.
He informed that 75 platoons of police force will be deployed in the city for the event. Five Quick Response Teams, 2 STUs and one anti-terrorist squad will be deployed for the event. There are 180 CCTV cameras installed at the stadium while 130 CCTV cameras are installed at 28 other points in the city. Two control rooms have been opened at the stadium and intelligence units will be keeping strict vigil on every activity around the stadium.
He said that security has been tightened at the airport since the teams started arriving and will remain till the end of the event. He said that adequate security arrangements have been made at the hotels round-the-clock. The players and the team management staff are staying at eight hotels in the city. Various expert teams with dog squads of the Odisha police have been performing explosive detection drills in the stadium and the adjoining areas.
“Our main concern in the security arrangements is to see that the venue is completely sanitised and each day we will do the drill of sanitising it with the dog squads and the expert team to detect any explosives in the stadium,” said Sharma.
The Commissioner of Police Satyajit Mohanty will be in overall charge of the security arrangements for the event while Northern Range DIG Satyabrata Bhoi will assist him in the job. Bhoi was the DCP of Bhubaneswar when two mega events, Asian Athletics Championships 2017 and the BJP National Executive Meet, were organised in the city.