Police Working Hard To Ensure Hassle-Free Medaram Jathara

With tens of thousands of vehicles making a beeline to the Medaram village for the historic Sammakka Sarakka jathara, the police are on tenterhooks to ensure the prevention of any untoward incident.

Senior police officers have already conducted a series of meetings with the district police with regard to traffic diversions, parking, prevention of crime, and security for the VVIP visitors.

The department is deploying 9,000 policemen drawn from various districts for jathara duties. The police expect about 1.25 crore visitors and the arrival of 3.5 lakh private vehicles and 4,000 RTC buses. Regulating vehicular traffic and parking given such numbers is a serious challenge for the police.

33 parking places and 37 vehicle holding points have been earmarked to regulate the flow of vehicles. One police outpost has been set up for every four kilometres. On the Pasra route, one police outpost has been set up for every two kilometres, and mobile patrolling teams will be moving all over. Six towing vehicles, 11 cranes and 20 JCBs have been put in place in case traffic snarls take place.

In addition, 382 CC cameras, two drone cameras and a huge command control centre have been put in place to monitor the jathara round the clock.

A total of 50 public information centres have also been set up to guide the devotees.

The department will also be distributing face masks and sanitiser kits to all the policemen on duty.

District Superintendent of Police S S G Patil appealed to the drivers not to overtake, and to ensure radium stickers on the rears of their vehicles for safe travel. He also urged people to take personal precautionary measures and follow the instructions of the policemen on jathara duties.