Cabinet ministers put on high alert before panel report

Hyderabad: All cabinet ministers have been put on high alert ahead of the submission of the report by Justice Srikrishna Committee on December 31. The Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) of the state police,which is responsible for the overall in charge of VIP security,including that of the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues,has started briefing ministers about the new security drill in case of an eventuality. In fact,the ISW has already scaled up the security cover of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.The details however have been kept out of public domain because of security reasons. Police sources said specific instructions were being issued to the personal staff of the ministers to keep the ISW informed well in advance about the movement and programmes of the ministers. All gunmen have been asked to cut down on other activities and stay focussed on the safeguarding of the VIP.

Ministers have been advised not to travel by road to the extent possible to avoid any possible mischief by miscreants.They have been specifically told not to fix or alter their programmes at the eleventh hour with a request to cut down on participation in private programmes, a senior police official said. Though the state government has not enhanced the number of armed security personnel attached to each minister, there is every possibility of additional personnel being allocated before December 31,the sources said.

The level of threat perception over the next fortnight is not limited to a particular region.Ministers from all the three regions have been put on alert.All local police units at the district level have been directed to provide extra security cover for the programmes being attended by ministers, the official observed.
It is pertinent to note that ministers from Telangana have nearly stopped touring Andhra-Rayalaseema regions for many months now,while those from the Andhra-Rayalaseema region too have been following suit ever since the twin agitations broke out last year.
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City police form riot control teams

To keep the police force ready for post December 31 situation,city cops are forming riot control teams in each police station.The teams comprising a SI and 10 constables from each of the 60 law and order police stations in the city began their three-day training classes at City Armed Reserve (CAR) premises located at Petlaburj. The stationspecific riot control teams will focus on handling riots in their juris-diction. In addition to these teams,six special riot control teams,each comprising 25 constables of CAR,two teams of Task Force personnel have also been devised to deploy at riot scenes across city.
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(source-toi)