Telangana: 90,000 security personnel deployed ahead of polls

Hyderabad: Nearly 90,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful and smooth conduct of first phase of general elections for 17 parliamentary constituencies and 119 Assembly seats in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh tomorrow. Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police B Prasada Rao today said the police department is fully geared up for conducting the elections and has taken all measures for maintenance of law and order during the elections in 10 districts of Telangana, which also comprises two Police Commissionerates—Hyderabad and Cyberabad. Overall 90,000 police personnel has been deployed, including around 54,000 personnel of Civil Police and District Armed Reserve, besides around 15,500 Home Guards. [caption id=“attachment_1502005” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image used for representational purposes only. AFP.[/caption] More than 3,500 recruit PCs and around 1,700 personnel from other wings of police have been drawn. In all, 158 paramilitary companies and 59 APSP companies are also deployed. Four IAF helicopters have been stationed for contingency in the districts, the DGP said. The AP Police chief had earlier said that the main endeavour of the police is to arrest the infiltration of Maoist dalams (squads) from across the bordering states of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra into the state. “We are aware of this (Left Wing Extremism) threat. The main concentration is on bordering areas. We had a video conference with the SPs and senior police officers of the bordering districts to make them aware of the threat and for taking necessary precautionary measures,” Rao had said. Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam are affected by Maoists problem in Telangana region of the state. Acknowledging the Maoists’ threat, the DGP had said a continuous vigil, especially through special parties and specialised anti-Maoist force—Greyhounds was being kept for the peaceful conduct of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls to thwart any Naxal bid to infiltrate and disrupt the electoral process. As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, a close watch has been kept on the movement of cash, liquor, gifts, contraband and other articles meant as inducement for voters, Prasada Rao said adding strict vigil is being maintained over all the inter-state and inter-district borders. As part of the enforcement work, AP Police has seized Rs 122.94 crore and out of this Rs 43.90 crore has been returned to owners after verification of documents. In the single biggest incident of seizure of cash, Rs 8.3 crore was seized by Cyberabad Police on 24 April and Shamshabad Police were further investigating into the matter. Police also seized 89.3 kg of gold besides 821 kg of silver and over 32,000 bottles of liquor, the DGP added. PTI