Elaborate security blanket for Mamata's swearing-in ceremony

Kolkata: An elaborate security cover on par with the Republic Day parade will be put in place for Mamata Banerjee’s swearing in as the next Chief Minister of West Bengal and her cabinet colleagues on Friday with around 1,000 policemen keeping a hawk eye on Red Road, the venue for the ceremony.[caption id=“attachment_2789432” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI [/caption] “Around 40 senior officers of the rank of Deputy Commissioner will be present at the venue. Plain clothes policemen will also be present at the site,” the IPS officer said. The Disaster Management unit of Kolkata Police, three units of QRT, four HRFS would be present too, he said. According to a top officer of the Kolkata Police, security arrangement for the day would be the same as is made for the Republic Day parade. Sniffer dogs will be deployed and CCTVs have been installed to keep a constant check on the movement at the venue while entry points towards the dais would also be sealed, the officer said. Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi and Mamata Banerjee would be seated on the main stage with two more stages on either side of it, a source at the Lalbazar said. “On these two stages there will be 100 seats each. One will accommodate central ministers and invitee chief ministers from other states along with other VVIPs, the other two will have the Chief Minister’s cabinet colleagues who will also be taking oath tomorrow,” he said. Seats for around 20,000 people have been arranged under a cover of about 10,000 square feet area on the venue. This is for the first time that a chief minister will take oath on Red Road, an arterial link road. According to a senior officer of the Kolkata Police Traffic Department, Red Road would be opened to traffic two days after the swearing-in programme, on Sunday evening (after 6 pm). “It will take another two more days to dismantle the stage and clear up the entire stretch of the Red Road. So after that the Red Road will be opened up on Sunday evening after 6 pm,” he said. Talking about traffic movement, a senior officer of the department said that south-bound traffic would be diverted through Mayo Road or Kingsway and vehicles coming from the Kidderpore area would take Outram Road or Dufferin Road. Traffic flow from ACJ Bose Road Flyover need to take Jawaharlal Nehru Road or Park Street to reach Esplanade, he said. About the parking, he said that the VVIP vehicles would be parked at an earmarked space on the Dufferin Road and Outram Road while other vehicles would be parked on the Territorial Army area. PTI