A majority of areas in and around the district leading to Paramakudi has come under a thick security cover since Thursday afternoon.
About 4000 policemen have been deployed in and around the district in view of 63rd death anniversary of Immanuel Sekaran on Friday.
With pandemic and curfew order in force, movement of the public has been restricted this year. ‘There will be neither processions, rallies nor public meetings,’ Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Jayanth Murali, who inspected the memorial and other arrangements, accompanied by IGP (south zone) Murugan and SP E. Karthik, told reporters that elaborate security arrangements had been made. Visitors have been instructed to follow physical distancing norms. Each participant representing political outfits have been given routes they have to follow from other districts. Similarly, all check posts have been provided with high resolution cameras and adequate manpower.
Only those with permission from the Collector should pay tribute at the memorial. Each political outfit can have five persons. The vehicles should not be hired ones. With 144 Cr. P.C (curfew) in place, no assembly of persons would be permitted. People from nearby villages intending to reach the memorial without any pass should be treated as unauthorised assembly. He urged the people to cooperate with the police in making the anniversary a peaceful event.
As many as 14 DSPs, eight additional SPs, eight Superintendents of Police, two DIGs and personnel from various districts have been positioned at vantage locations including the Five Corner, the place where police opened fire in 2011 against the public, which claimed six lives.
Drones for surveillance
The police are using five hi-tech micro drones for surveillance and crowd management, designed and developed by Anna University, Chennai.
They will be operated by the Tamil Nadu Commando Police team from Chennai, who have undergone training from a team of faculty and research members from the CAR (Centre for Aerospace Research) Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT, led by its Director K. Senthil Kumar.
Mr. Senthil Kumar said that they have been assisting the police since 2012 in surveillance. The state-of-the-art drones, weighing 900 grams can fly for about 20 to 25 minutes. This has been introduced only here for the first time. ‘Wherever the police feel they need to monitor closely, drones can capture crystal clear images. Apart from crowd management, the gadgets can capture finer aspects as well. For instance, in the event of tracking a vehicle, the registration number can be taken with precision. In a nutshell, the small drones are an effective tool and force multiplier, he said and added that 10 personnel from the TN Commando Force have come here for the operation, which is being supervised by an 8-member Anna University team.
The SP, Mr. Karthik, who launched the UAV, said that it would be very useful in police surveillance.