Srirangam to come under thick security blanket

The temple town of Srirangam will be brought under a thick blanket of security in connection with Vaikunta Ekadasi on Tuesday at Ranganathaswamy Temple — foremost among the 108Divya Desams— with a large turn out of devotees expected this year as well.

The highlight of the annual festival is the opening of theParamapadha Vaasalin the early hours of Tuesday through which the Namperumal — the processional deity — will exit after being taken in a procession followed by devotees in large numbers.

In addition to mobilising the entire city police personnel, manpower strength has been augmented by drawing personnel from other districts like Kancheepuram, Ariyalur, Tiruvarur, Nilgiris, Karur, Salem, Theni, Namakkal, Pudukottai and Villupuram, besides those from the Armed Reserve and Tamil Nadu Special Police battalions.

A detailed security scheme has been prepared by the City Police exclusively for the festival with field-level officers having been briefed about their roles and responsibilities.

According to police sources, the sprawling temple premises has been divided into different sectors where a heavy posse of police personnel will be deployed.

Sizeable strength will also be posted outside the temple to regulate movement of devotees and vehicles coming to the shrine from various places. As per the security scheme, seven Superintendents of Police, 13 Additional Superintendents of Police, 40 Deputy Superintendents of Police and over 100 Inspectors form part of the bandobust arrangements.

Vigil will also be mounted through a chain of surveillance cameras already installed within the temple premises and outside and through the watch towers. Anti-sabotage teams will be positioned at vantage points in and around the temple. Over 3,500 police personnel will be deployed on Tuesday for the festival, the sources said.

Deployment will be done in full swing on Monday. A meeting of police officers in connection with the security-related arrangements was held here on Sunday to brief them about their assigned tasks, the sources added.