Kolkata Police make arrangements to combat BJP's 'march to Lalbazar' today

The city police have made elaborate arrangements to avoid any untoward incident during BJP's "march to Lalbazar" rally on Thursday.

Sources said additional 2,500 policemen will be deployed to restrict the party supporters from reaching near Lalbazar by flouting the provisions under Section 144 CrPC.

Policemen will be deployed on all roads connecting Lalbazar and there will be teams of policemen headed by an officer of additional commissioner rank at all the strategic points.

Security barricades will be placed at all the entry points of the roads connecting Lalbazar and there will also be robocops behind all the security barricades to restrict the

agitators from breaking the security barricades.

The police have received inputs that the BJP supporters will be marching from five different routes towards the headquarters of the Kolkata Police at Lalbazar.

There will be security barricades at the intersections on Bentinck Street. Similarly, there will also be security barricades on roads that connect Lalbazar with Chittaranjan Avenue. There are seven such points where policemen will be posted to stop the party supporters from reaching the city police's headquarters.

There was a massive chaos during Left Front's march to Lalbazar rally in April 2015. Taking a lesson from the Left Front's rally, the city police didn't leave any stone unturned in making necessary arrangements to avoid any untoward incident during the BJP's rally on Thursday.

Moreover, the police had to resort to lathi-charge during Left Front's "march to Nabanna" rally when the supporters had gathered on Mayo Road and started pelting stones at the police leaving 69 policemen injured on Monday. Some journalists were also injured during the rally. Thus, steps have been taken to avoid repetition of such incidents.

Sources said that BJP supporters from districts adjoining to the city will also be participating in Thursday's rally and there is high chances that they may start marching towards Lalbazar from Howrah and Sealdah stations.

Thus, there is a possibility of traffic congestion in the central business district. The traffic police have also chalked out a plan to ensure minimum harassment of commuters when some roads have to be closed during the rally.