Approximately 50,000 police personnel are set to participate in security operations across three city commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda to ensure safe Ganesh immersion celebrations on Thursday, September 28. This heightened security presence in Hyderabad is a result of the coinciding dates of Ganesh Visarjan and Milad un Nabi this year.
The Visarjan procession will also be closely monitored through CCTV surveillance, and five drone camera teams will oversee it in core city areas. Police have estimated a 10% increase in the number of Ganesh idols in the city this year. In Hyderabad alone, there are expected to be over 50,000 Ganesh idols standing over three feet tall, which is an increase of 10,000 from the previous year. Similarly, in Cyberabad and Rachakonda, the number of idols has risen from 11,000 to 12,000 and 9,000 to 11,000, respectively.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, along with colleagues from traffic, law and order, and the Special Branch, conducted a 19-kilometre inspection of the immersion procession route from Balapur Ganesh Temple to Hussain Sagar on September 26. This route encompasses Chandrayanagutta, Charminar, Nayapul, MJ Market, Telugu Talli Flyover, Secretariat, and People's Plaza. Anand instructed zonal DCPs to focus on MJ Market, where processions from different routes converge, and to install proper signage at the Telugu Talli flyover to guide vehicles carrying idols, based on their height specifications.
In the Hyderabad commissionerate, approximately 30,000 police personnel, including the Rapid Action Force (RAF), will be deployed. Five drone teams will monitor procession routes, and multiple Quick Response Teams, dog squads, anti-chain snatching teams, and SHE Teams will be on standby. The joint command control centre, staffed by senior officers from GHMC, HMDA, Transco, the water board, RTA, and medical and health departments, will be fully operational from the early hours of Thursday at the Telangana State Police Integrated Command Control Centre (TSPICCC).
Several roads in the city that are part of the procession route will either be closed to regular traffic or subject to traffic diversions.