15K Mumbai cops on duty for Dussehra rallies of rival Senas, WC match, idol immersions

Mumbai: More than 15,000 Mumbai police personnel will be on duty at venues of Dussehra rallies of rival Shiv Sena groups, for an ICC cricket World Cup match here on Tuesday and for overseeing immersion of Goddess Durga idols after the end of Navratri festival, an official said on Monday.

The ruling Shiv Sena and its rival group led by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray are holding their Dussehra rallies at Azad Maidan (south Mumbai) and Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai's Dadar, respectively, where police personnel will be deployed in strength.

The police are geared up to deploy adequate personnel at the two high-profile political rallies which will start late in the evening and see participation from a large number of people, including workers of the ruling Shiv Sena and the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT), said the official.

Also on Tuesday, the Wankhede Stadium in south Mumbai will host a day-night World Cup match between South Africa and Bangladesh, where, too, security personnel will be deployed, he said.

Besides the rallies and the World Cup match, the metropolis will also see immersion of Goddess Durga idols after the end of the nine-day Navratri festival which will also keep cops busy with law and order and crowd management duties.

Considering that a large number of people come out on streets during the immersion processions, police are being deployed at all prominent places, the official said.

As many as 12,449 lower-rank personnel, 2,496 officers, 45 Assistant Commissioners of Police, 16 Deputy Commissioners and half a dozen Additional Commissioners of the city force are being deployed across the financial capital, he said.

Besides the Mumbai cops, 33 State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) platoons (around 100 each), Quick Response Teams and Home Guards are being mobilised for duty for the multiple events in the metropolis, said the official.