Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had multiple security rings on Sunday afternoon during her first wheelchair-bound public rally since Wednesday’s Nandigram incident that left her injured.
Security detailing, multiple sources said, had never been as tight as it was on Sunday.
The rally from Gandhi statue to Hazra on Sunday afternoon had visibly more police personnel — in uniform and plainclothes — to ensure no physical harm came to Mamata, entitled to Z-plus security cover, state home department sources said.
Sources in Lalbazar said that instead of the regular 1,500-2,000 police personnel, around 2,500 personnel on Sunday were deployed from many units of Calcutta police to secure the start and end points of the rally, the route, aerial view and the area near the injured chief minister.
A senior officer said that the Lalbazar brass did not want to take chances after the Nandigram incident.
The officer added that special care was taken to ensure that no one could reach Mamata within the radius of a few metres throughout her route from Gandhi statue to Hazra via Mayo Road, JL Nehru Road, Park Street crossing, Ashutosh Mukherjee Road and SP Mukherjee Road.
Around 60 police personnel — 40 in uniform and 20 in plainclothes, led by four senior IPS officers — accompanied the chief minister on the 5km stretch on Sunday.
“Twenty-odd lady constables in plainclothes made a box formation around her. Apart from police, only those whom the chief minister personally wanted to assist her were allowed in this ring. The next layer comprised uniformed men and women officers around her, but maintaining a gap,” said a senior police officer.
The stretch between the two ends of the rally had seven police pickets — each manned by over two dozen police personnel reporting to two IPS officers of deputy commissioner rank. The entire stretch was barricaded and police personnel at pickets ensured no one could break through the cordon. A police staffer video-recorded the movements of the chief minister and people near her.
Unlike earlier, there was additional deployment on the rooftops of highrises along the line of route that falls under Shakespeare Sarani and Bhowanipore police station areas.
An ambulance each, at the Hazra crossing and the Gandhi statue were kept on standby.
Sunday’s police arrangements were in addition to the existing security cover that Mamata gets from the special security unit, comprising three personal security officers and four-five police personnel.
The police arrangements not just included her safety but also ensuring no traffic snarls or law and order problems in the vicinity of the stretch from where the chief minister passed by on Sunday.
On Wednesday evening, Mamata Banerjee was injured while standing on the footboard of her SUV at a crowded area in Nandigram, where she is contesting from. The incident had triggered the removal of two police officers involved in her security arrangement during the Nandigram event.
