Delhi Police to Bolster Security Ahead of Festival Season

Delhi Police has established an enhanced security plan for the upcoming festival season, focusing on crowded areas like malls, metro stations, and markets. The plan includes increased patrolling, additional police forces, checkpoints, and the use of technology for monitoring. Temporary help desks and emergency services will also be available.

Delhi Police has devised a comprehensive security plan covering key areas of the national capital, including railways, metro stations, bus terminals, malls, and markets, ahead of the upcoming festival season, officials said. Patrolling has already been intensified in crowded areas like malls and markets, they said, adding that extra police personnel, both in uniform and civil dress, will be deployed citywide.

''Senior police officers have begun holding meetings to finalise a security plan to tackle any kind of threat during the festive season,'' a senior police officer said.

The plan includes managing traffic in overcrowded markets, metro stations, bus stands, malls, and railway stations, the officer said. According to the plan, additional security forces along with para-military forces will be deployed at various locations. Checkpoints will also be established in different markets like Chandni Chowk, Palika Bazar, Connaught Place, Sarojni Market, and others, where large crowds are expected for festival shopping, he said.

The police will also leverage technology to monitor suspicious behaviour and identify potential threats, he added.

At major entry points, a police officer will be stationed, while teams of four to five officers, including female police staff, will maintain strict vigilance throughout the season, he said.

The officer said that temporary help desks will be set up in busy markets, railway stations, and metro stations to assist the public. Ambulances and PCR units will be on standby to handle emergencies, he said. To address rising crime rates and ensure the safety of passengers travelling in the Delhi Metro, the city police has already implemented a new security strategy, deploying police officers in plain clothes at vulnerable metro stations during peak hours, he said. The step was taken after the city police conducted a ‘temporal and spatial analysis’ to review its security plan as the national capital has witnessed a surge in ridership in recent months, leading to a corresponding increase in crime reports, official sources from police said.

According to police data, Delhi Metro has reported 3,952 cases of thefts this year so far, with 3,709 of these incidents occurring by September 8, 2023.