Finally, policemen in city get a breather

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Citizens may be disappointed that there will be no open-top parade carrying the victorious Indian team around town but for the Mumbai police, it has come as a huge relief.

The police force, which had maintained a hectic bandobast schedule due to a potential threat to the World Cup final match, has now opened the window of holidays for its 45,000 personnel in rotation.

The city police had been working hard to maintain law and order during the final match. “Everyone, from the constables to the commissioner of police, was on duty and they gave their best,” said Rajnish Seth, joint commissioner of police, in-charge of law and order.

Two years ago, after winning the T20 World Cup, the Indian team went around town atop open buses in a victory parade. The police force was relieved that no announcement of such a victory rally came from the BCCI this time round.

“For the World Cup final, a lot of planning and effort was involved. Not a single policeman complained about the long working hours. We have now started giving holidays to all the policemen in rotation,” added Seth. Besides the 45,000-strong Mumbai police, police commissioner Arup Patnaik had called in five companies of Rapid Action Force, nine companies of state reserve police force, and personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force, National Security Guard and Force One. “Though there was no specific terror threat, we took all precautions. We had been discussing the bandobast part for over the last one month,” said a senior police officer.

“The entire world was watching the final match. A foreign team was in Mumbai. It had been very hectic for us to maintain law and order since the Presidents of India and Sri Lanka were also in the stadium. We can now proudly say that our force is the best in bandobast since not a single case of stone pelting, rioting or crimes related to women was reported during the match bandobast,” said an officer.

“We reviewed our bandobast plan at least 10 times before the final. Even after the match was over, the bandobast continued as people came out on the roads to celebrate. Our policemen did not sleep the whole night,” said the officer.


The Times of India, April 5, 2011