As lakhs of vehicles make a beeline to the Medaram village for the historic Sammakka Saralamma jatara, billed as one of the biggest tribal events, at Medaram, the Telangana police have put in place systems for hassle free experience for devotees.
Officers have already conducted a series of meetings with the district police with regard to traffic diversions, parking, prevention of crime and security to the VVIP visits. The department had already deployed 9,000 policemen drawn from various districts for jatara duties.
The cops expect about 1.25 crore people and the arrival of 3.5 lakh private vehicles and 4,000 RTC buses. It poses a great challenge to the department to regulate vehicular traffic and parking.
A total of 382 CCTVs, two drone cameras, 20 display boards and a huge command control centre to monitor the jatara round the clock were put in place. As many as 33 parking places and 37 vehicle holding points were earmarked to regulate the flow of vehicles. For every four kilometres, one police outpost was set up.
One Pasra route, one police outpost for every two kilometres was set up and mobile patrolling teams will be moving all over. Six towing vehicles, 11 cranes, 20 JCBs were put in place in case traffic snarls take place.
They will also distribute face masks and sanitizer kits to all policemen on duty. A total of 50 public information centres were set up to guide the devotees.
District Superintendent of Police, Sangram Singh Ganpathrao Patil appealed to drivers not to overtake and ensure radium stickers at the back of the vehicles for safe travel.
He also urged people to take personal precautionary measures and follow the instructions of policemen on jatara duties at various places.