Chennai: The city is gearing up to celebrate the country’s 71st Republic Day tomorrow under tight police security.
For the past three days, the city police have been on an alert carrying out raids and security drills to ensure fool-proof security for the day. Nearly 15,000 police personnel have been deployed at various places and 1.5 lakh personnel will be on security duty across the State. Many districts in the south have been placed on alert and additional forces have been allotted there.
Tomorrow at 8 am, Governor Banwarilal Purohit will be hoisting the National Flag near Mahatma Gandhi Statue at Marina Beach in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and other top officials.
A three tier-security is said to be in place at the venue where a parade and cultural events will also take place. Several persons from Tamilnadu will be given awards for bravery and social service.
Teams from schools and colleges will be performing cultural programmes at the venue. Like previous years, city police will use drone cameras to monitor crowd during the parade on Kamarajar Salai.
Thousands are expected to gather at the venue and a number of metal detectors are kept at checkpoints to screen the visitors.
Meanwhile, vigilance has been increased at several sensitive places in the city including bus stands, railway stations, airports, market places and other busy areas.
Officials from Traffic and Law and Order wings have laid out the security arrangements to ensure no untoward incidents are reported.
”For the past three days the city police have been on their toes checking lodges, hotels and arresting suspects. Sensitive places such as Central Railway Station, Egmore Railway Station, CMBT bus terminus and airport will have heightened security, ‘ sources said.
Central Station and Egmore station have a two-tier security in place since last night. The city police also took efforts to dismantle the abandoned cars lying near railway stations and bus stops as a preventive measure. The airport is on a red alert for tomorrow and visitors will not be allowed for security reasons.
There will be vehicle checks at various places. Important routes are mapped out for dignitaries to travel and police personnel will be deployed along these stretches for safety reasons, a police source said.