Kite-flying is restricted till 11 am around Red Fort on I-Day
A hundred police personnel will have their eyes on the sky on Wednesday morning — all looking out for any errant kite that may disturb the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address. Taking a lesson from the previous two years — once last year when a black kite landed near the podium during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at the Red Fort, and earlier in 2016 when a kite was seen above the ramparts before the address began — the Delhi Police this year have decided to deploy “kite catchers” who will keep an eye on flying kites near the venue on Wednesday.
While the restriction on any kind of flying object is imposed every year as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident, this is for the first time that personnel have been deployed to check for kites.
The Delhi Police has restricted kite-flying till 11 am around Red Fort on Independence Day.
According to police sources, about 100 personnel from the rank of constables to assistant sub-inspectors (ASI) have been specially tasked to make sure no one flies kites in the restricted areas — Jama Masjid, Darya Ganj, Kashmere Gate, Civil Lines, and Chandni Chowk — and to catch the strings of stray kites if they come towards Red Fort during the event.
Carrying wireless sets, some of them will be deployed on rooftops of buildings and balconies of houses to keep a check.
DCP (North) Nupur Prasad told The Indian Express that the personnel are trained on how to tackle such a situation. “They will immediately alert the personnel present in the direction from where the kite is coming, to pull it down. The police may take legal action also, as prohibitory orders are already invoked in Delhi,” said Prasad.
Among the 100 trained police personnel, there are officers who will be deployed around the main stage and the VVIP gallery to catch any kites. The position of these policemen have been allocated and they were part of the full-dress rehearsal on Monday, said sources. “The police personnel received a few days of training on how to act if they see a stray kite. They have also been trained to deal with the situation if the kite is falling on the venue,” said a senior officer.