Pulling out all stops

As national bandh and palkhi's arrival coincide today, the police will be out on the roads in full force; fire brigade cancels all leavesu00a0

The arrival of thousands of people with the Tukaram Maharaj palkhi in the city today coincides with the national bandh called by opposition parties, making for a day when the city's infrastructure and essential services may be stretched to the limit.

But the police and other authorities are going all out to ensure the bandh turns out to be a flop and the palkhi a success. The police are determined the bandh does not inconvenience residents or the warkaris.u00a0

Police bandobast
"The entire Pune police force, from the Commissioner to the constable, will be on the roads on Monday and Tuesday," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Rajendra Sonawane. "Besides this, three companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), one unit of the Rapid Action Force and 200 Home Guards will be deployed to keep vigil."

"As a preventive measure, 160 potential troublemakers from different organisations have been detained and arrested, while 1,250 political activists have been sent notices on Sunday," said Sonawane.

Hospitals on toes
Dr Arun Jamkar, dean of Sassoon, said the hospital had made arrangements to tackle any eventuality.

"The hospital will be completely operational, with not only emergency but also routine services like OPD not affected," said Jamkar. "In case of any untoward incident, the hospital has made arrangements for a separate disaster management unit."

Jamkar, a member of the Emergency Medical Services Committee, said the committee had held a meeting yesterday to confirm all private and public hospitals will remain open today.

Fire brigade alert
Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said, "All fire tenders have been fitted with protective metal nets. All fire station officers have also been issued alerts on Monday. All leaves have been cancelled."

Working day
Professionals in the city say they plan to treat July 5 as any other working day in spite of the bandh and the palkhi.

"We haven't received any concrete news about the bandh (from office). Being a Monday, I will as usual have a very busy day," said Amit Gupta, who works with a private firm.

Althea D'costa, who works with an IT firm, said, "We have private buses for commuting, so there will not be any problem going to work."

Private cabs
Even private cab operators said bookings for the day were not affected, showing people were not letting the bandh call affect their schedule.

Nafisa Sheikh, a booking representative with Wings Radio cab, said, "We got the same bookings for Monday as on any other day. Still, we have informed our clients that if there are serious disturbances on the road, we might cancel the bookings."

Amit, Administration Head, Celcabs & Voyages Pvt Ltd, said they had received around 25 bookings for the day. "All vehicles are booked between 5 am and 7 am, after which we are not sure if it would be safe to travel."

Bus services
Bus services plan to function as usual. PMPML official Satish Kulkarni said, "PMPML buses will ply in the city on the day of the bandh, but law and order issue rests with the police. We hope that untoward incidents do not happen during the bandh."