A tight security blanket involving over a 1,000 police officers will be put in place for the Keraleeyam festival.
The entire festival area comprising 40 venues have been divided into four security zones by the Thiruvananthapuram City police with the force entrusted with maintenance of law and order. The force includes over 250 women police officers and over 400 special police officers.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who addressed a press conference here on Monday, said the city shadow police team would intensify surveillance in the crowded places as part of steps to ensure safety for women and children. The main and inner roads would be regularly patrolled. More surveillance cameras had been installed at various locations. Two special police control rooms started functioning at Kanakakkunnu and Putharikandam. Ten aid posts and sub-control rooms had also been established close to the festival venues.
Traffic restrictions would be imposed along the stretch from Kowdiar to East Fort from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on all days during the course of the festival. Being the main festival stretch, the areas were classified as the ‘red zone’ for traffic enforcement. While the roads leading to the red zone would come under the ‘orange zone’, the other parts would come under the ‘green zone’ witnessing comparatively less regulations. Parking would be permitted only in 20 designated areas.
KSRTC Swift would ply 20 electric buses to ferry visitors free-of-charge across the festival venues. The red zone would be out of bounds for all other vehicles, the CM said.
Interacting with mediapersons earlier, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty and Transport Minister Antony Raju said KSRTC would also transport visitors to and from the designated parking areas for ₹10.
Food festival
Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil formally unveiled a 25-foot-long and 10-foot-wide menu card listing 2,000 sumptuous and varying dishes on offer for the visitors of Keraleeyam. He presented a menu card to music composer M. Jayachandran at a function held on the Kanakakkunnu Palace premises.
The unique food festival featuring the distinctive flavours of Kerala would be held across 11 venues that would host over 150 stalls offering a wide range of food items from ‘thattukada’ (wayside eateries) to five-star dishes.
Manaveeyam Veedhi would feature ‘Nostalgia’, a segment that would enable one to savour traditional foods ranging from ‘pazhankanji’ to dried fish dishes, while an ethnic food festival at University College would present items ranging from ‘urumbu chammanthi’ to potato dishes.
Food shows by culinary experts including Firoz Chuttippara, Pazhayidam Mohanan Namboothiri, Abida Rasheed, Chef Pillai, and Kishore, would also be organised at Sooryakanthi.
