Superintendent of Police M. Ravindranath Babu has appealed to the fishermen to exercise their franchise during the third phase of the gram panchayat elections to be conducted on February 17 in the island villages.
Mr. Ravindranath Babu, along with Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) Additional SP Vakul Jindal and Avanigadda DSP Md. Mahaboob Basha, visited the polling stations located in the inaccessible habitations and reviewed the security arrangements on Tuesday.
Mr. Ravindranath Babu and his team visited the sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling centres in Nagayalanka, Etimoga, Edurumondi, Krishnapuram and other villages, and interacted with the locals.
The community heads greeted the SP, the ASP and other officers on the banks of the Krishna.
Cooperation sought
“Your cooperation is a must for conducting the elections peacefully. Please cooperate with the police and the polling staff in the island villages,” Mr. Ravindranath Babu said, and enquired with the polling staff about the problems, if any, in the habitations.
Avanigadda CI B.B. Ravi Kumar and Nagayalanka SI K. Srinivas explained that boats and ‘pantu’ (raft) had been arranged for the polling staff and security personnel to cross the Krishna and reach the polling booths in the inaccessible hamlets.
“You are the first SP to visit our village (Edurumondi) by crossing the river. We will extend our cooperation for the peaceful conduct of elections,” said Nageswara Rao of Krishnapuram village.
Earlier, the SP and the ASP explained the do’s and don’ts to the CIs, SIs, constables and the Grama Mahila Samrakshana Karyadarshulu (GMSKs), who were posted at different polling stations in Machilipatnam, Avanigadda, Nagayalanka, Mopidevi and Challapalli.
Tight security was arranged in the inaccessible villages in wake of the SP’s visit.
Vigil mounted
Meanwhile. the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB), Police and the Prohibition and Excise (P&E) department personnel have stepped up vigil on the borders to check flow of liquor into the State during the third phase of gram panchayat elections.
Vehicle checking
As part of which, vehicle checking was being done at all the 52 checkposts on A.P.-Telangana borders and the SEB officials bound over 9,000 excise offenders, ID liquor and arrack manufacturers, said Krishna district Superintendent of Police(SP) M. Ravindranath Babu.
Police also seized about 15,000 liquor bottles and huge quantity of ID liquor so far. The teams destroyed thousands of litres of fermented jaggery wash at Pedana, Avanigadda, Nandigama, Jaggaiahpeta, Mylavaram, Vissannapeta and other mandals, he said.
West Godavari district SP K. Narayan Naik said that joint raids were being conducted at the checkposts