More than 4,000 police personnel, including armed reserve (AR) wing constables, will be deployed for the immersion of over 2,500 idols in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts from Wednesday as part of Vinayaka Chaturthi.
The police said that among these districts, Tiruvannamalai has the highest number of idols (1,168) displayed in public places, followed by Vellore (902) and Tirupattur (557). Ranipet has the lowest number of idols (43) in public places. “We conducted a flag march in Ambur town today (Tuesday) as part of the safety measures for idol procession, which will be held from Wednesday. No major traffic changes will be done during the procession,” Albert John, SP (Tirupattur), told The Hindu.
N. Manivannan and K. Karthikeyan, SPs for Vellore and Tiruvannamalai respectively, on Tuesday inspected the routes for the procession and the waterbodies in which the idols will be immersed. A total of 23 lakes and ponds have been identified in these districts for the purpose. The immersion will be allowed for three days from Wednesday. As for the deployment of police personnel, Vellore will have the highest number of personnel (1,200) on each day of the procession, followed by Tiruvannamalai and Tirupattur (1,100 each) and Ranipet (800). Idols should be immersed before 6 p.m. and taken only through permitted routes, away from places of worship, schools and hospitals. Drones will be used to monitor the procession and immersion.
The major towns where immersion and procession are allowed include Vellore, Gudiyatham, Ambur, Vaniyambadi, Arcot, Walajah, Arakkonam, Kaveripakkam, Arani, Chengam, Cheyyar, Vandavasi and Tiruvannamalai. During immersion, a team of police personnel will be deployed at designated waterbodies.
Most of the waterbodies identified for immersion of idols are maintained by the Water Resources Department. Guidelines have been issued to prevent contamination of water.
