Police leaving no stones unturned to ensure safe I-Day

Kolkata: The police is taking all necessary steps to avoid any untoward incident during the Independence Day parade to be held at Red Road on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be hoisting the national flag at Red Road. She will also be given guard-of-honour. The programme at Red Road is scheduled to start at 10 am and it will continue till around 11.30 am. The Chief Minister will also be giving out police medals in the same programme.

The parade will begin with a tableau of Safe Drive Save Life and subsequently participants from Kolkata Police, West Bengal Police, school children and tableaus of different departments will be passing one after the other. Around 980 children of different schools will be performing in the parade.

"The Winners", a special all-women patrolling team of the city police to combat and prevent incidents of molestation and eve-teasing in the city, will also be participating in the Independence Day parade. A team of women officers of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) will also be taking part in the parade. This will be the first time for the Mounted Police unit taking part in it.

There will be tableaus on the projects including Rupashree, Kanyashree, Sabujshree, Khadya Sathi, and Sabujsathi. Besides the tableau of the Youth Services and Sports department with the theme of 'Football', there will also be a tableau of the Information and Cultural Affairs department based on the theme of 'Sampriti'. Flowers will be sprinkled from helicopter at the time of the parade.

Kolkata Police has tightened the security arrangements to avoid any untoward incident during the parade. An additional 1,500 policemen will be deployed and at the same time, there will be close monitoring from watchtowers. As many as 10 watchtowers have been erected around Red Road. Three Quick Response Teams (QRTs) will be deployed and there will also be six mobile patrolling units.