Paramilitary forces, drones for vigil in Jalandhar's 109 ‘vulnerable’ polling areas
Aakanksha N Bhardwaj
Jalandhar, May 31
Only one day to go to elections, as many as 109 locations have been categorised as vulnerable in Jalandhar. The Tribune visited one of the vulnerable booths set up at a government school in Ram Nagar area under Police Division 1 today.
Five paramilitary personnel were deployed at the booth. “We have worked in Naxal dominated areas too, and we are ready to tackle every situation,” said one of the paramilitary officers.
As per the information, a total of 560 paramilitary personnel have been deployed at the booths.
A BLO present at the booth said that although the booth was sensitive, no untoward activity or any incident happened there since last several years.
“Four CCTV cameras have been installed in the school which will be useful for us. We are vigilant,” he added.
A Punjab police official who was there at the booth added that not more than five persons are allowed to stand outside the booth.
“We have deployed force, including paramilitary as per norms. Additional force, including officers have also been deployed at the vulnerable booths,” said Police Commissioner Rahul S.
Moreover, drones are being used in 39 ‘expenditure sensitive’ pockets in the district under the supervision of expenditure observers where they (observers) expect freebies to be doled out. The drones would be used in the night too as they have been equipped with night-vision cameras. DC Himanshu Aggarwal said that several complaints had been received by the district administration that freebies were being distributed amongst the voters.
