New Delhi, March 18 (IANS) As India celebrates the festival of colours with traditional gaiety and enthusiasm, police in the national capital are on their toes to prevent any untoward incident and have raised a high alert in the city.
"During Holi, the footfall is high in the markets, temples, and commercial places. On such occasions, Delhi Police raises its alert. We increase our visibility, presence to counter any threat," a top official told IANS.
Also known as the festival of colours, Holi is widely celebrated signifying the triumph of good over evil. The eve of the festival is known as 'Holika Dahan (burning of demon holika)' or Chhoti Holi.
According to the police official, community policing like 'Eyes and Ears' have been activated so that locals inform the police personnel about any anti-social element in their area.
Strict security arrangements are in place in view the ongoing celebrations. "The safety of the people is our topmost priority. The police personnel have been deployed on roads & streets to intensify patrolling & checking at pickets for area dominance," the official said.
Police personnel will be seen, throughout the day and night, patrolling in all areas of the city. "Threat or no threat, we have to be always ready," another official told IANS.
Heavy presence of police could be seen in the sensitive areas of the capital to prevent any kind of hooliganism that is often done by the miscreants under the garb of the celebration.
"Safety of the women is our topmost priority," said the official.
Meanwhile, Delhi Traffic Police had earlier said that it has made adequate security arrangements for the festival to keep a tab on hooligans and drunken driving.
Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Vivek Kishore said the traffic police personnel will be deployed at all major roads and intersections. "We request you all to follow traffic rules during the Holi celebrations. Do not indulge in drunken driving and triple riding on two wheelers and riding without a helmet," he said in a video message.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, tied his wife Ranjan Devi and son Vaibhav to the bed and set them on fire at his house in Mayurwa locality, which comes under the Triveniganj police station.
Nearly 100 students and resident doctors of the Government Medical College in Patiala in Punjab have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday. A retirement party and New Year Eve's party held on the college campus without following appropriate Covid-19 behaviour is blamed for alarming spike in the cases.
