With tourist crowd expected to swell throughout the days leading up to Deepavali in the Nilgiris, the district police have taken various steps to maintain law and order, and prevent crime and accidents in the district.
The Nilgiris district Superintendent of Police D. Shanmuga Priya said that 350 police personnel had been posted on bandobust duty, with watch towers being constructed in Gudalur and Udhagamandalam town limits.
“The watch towers have been fitted with high resolution cameras and will help monitor crowd, and prevent crime in the area,” said Ms. Shanmuga Priya.
Policemen in plain clothes were to also be posted along Commercial Road in Udhagamandalam and the centre of Gudalur, Coonoor and Kotagiri towns.
The district police also took measures to ensure that visibility along most parts of the National Highway leading to towns in the Nilgiris was improved. She said that overgrown weeds and plants along major sections of the highway leading to Coonoor, Udhagamandalam and Gudalur were removed by policemen.
Weeds removed
“Around 20 policemen from each police station in the district took up the work last week, with weeds being removed from road margins along Burliar to Kattery Park stretch, Wellington and Aravankadu and near Manthada, while work was also done in Thalaikundah and parts of Gudalur,” said Ms. Shanmuga Priya.
The SP said that the prime reason for the removal of plants were that they had overgrown along the road margins and were covering the caution boards that warned drivers about hazards along the route.
“As we expect a lot of tourists to be coming here over the course of the weekend and during Deepavali, we wanted to ensure that the sign boards are visible to them,” she said.