Cop team takes stock of arrangements during Mumbai full marathon

According to a senior officer of Kolkata Police, the marathon in Mumbai is biggest in Asia. Thus, it has to be figured how it is organised without affecting the normal flow of traffic in a city like Mumbai, which is heavily congested.

Kolkata Police has also started organising a half marathon from 2018. Next year, the marathon of Kolkata police is scheduled to be held on January 6.

"It was important to study how Mumbai police manage the event and if good aspects are found to be relevant to Kolkata, it can be implemented during major events in the city," the officer said adding that it was a full marathon in Mumbai. Though it was organised by a private company, the police had to make necessary arrangements so that common people do not face any trouble.

According to the officer of Kolkata Police, around 43,000 people participated in the event in Mumbai, which was held

on Sunday morning.

The participants had to cover a distance of 42 km after starting from CST Terminus in Mumbai and they passed through different roads including the major ones.

The team of the Kolkata Police comprises an assistant commissioner of police, two inspectors and a traffic sergeant. They went to Mumbai for two days and started working from Saturday.

The police officers from Kolkata witnessed the entire preparation from a day ahead of the event. They also had an interaction with Deven Bharti, Joint Police Commissioner (Law and Order) of Mumbai Police and spoke to the rank and file of Mumbai Police of different components of the management. In Mumbai, the road space is much lesser compared to the number of vehicles.

While studying the entire event, the policemen from Kolkata noted down the points that they found to be significant mainly in terms of policing and traffic management.

"There was deployment of policemen since 1 am on Sunday for the marathon. At the same time, traffic diversion was put in place as and when required to let participants of the marathon get a clear passage. Arrangements were made in such a way so that commoners didn't have to face inconvenience," the

police officer said.

Officers in the team will give a report to their seniors after returning from Mumbai and it will consists of their observations on the policing, traffic management and other aspects of the rally.

The senior police officers will hold a meeting with the officers in the team and decide whether any component of the Mumbai's marathon would be of any help in the marathons or other events in Kolkata.