Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Voting for the municipal corporation elections will be held on Thursday, 15 January, and the administration has made extensive preparations for the process. Arrangements have been made for nearly 1,000 vehicles for election duty. The process of taking vehicles into possession will begin from the night of January 13. GPS devices will be installed in every vehicle. Around 3,000 police personnel will be requisitioned from outside for election security, for whom a large number of vehicles will also be required.
To ensure that the municipal corporation elections are conducted peacefully, efforts are being made jointly by the municipal corporation and the police administration. As rival political groups are coming face to face and incidents of clashes and scuffles have occurred, the police have become more alert. There is a strong possibility of tension arising in some prabhags on polling day. Keeping this in mind, the police have already begun micro-level planning, according to sources. The municipal corporation administration has also undertaken comprehensive preparations for the polling scheduled on January 15.
The mechanical section has planned the deployment of 1,000 vehicles. Ninety buses will be taken from the MSRTC, while 63 buses of the Smart City project will be utilised. A total of 120 cruiser jeeps have been hired, and 160 jeeps have been arranged for zonal officers. Besides, 75 four-wheelers have been requisitioned from various government offices. To monitor and control election-related transport arrangements, nine different officers from the municipal corporation have been appointed.
3,000 personnel for security duty
For polling day security, SRPF personnel and home guards have been called in from outside, numbering nearly 3,000. For their transportation, the police administration had demanded 200 jeeps and 130 tempos from the municipal corporation. However, it has been conveyed that the police will hire these vehicles themselves, and the municipal corporation will bear the rental expenses.
GPS installation from Tuesday
The installation of GPS devices in various vehicles will begin from January 13. Not a single vehicle will be allowed to be used for election duty without a GPS device, said Amol Kulkarni, executive engineer (of CSMC’s mechanical section).