Kerala police on extra alert for PM's visit

The city police have been on their toes for the past few days to ensure foolproof security for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Sunday visit, especially with embarrassing memories of the 2006 goof-up.

Close to 1,000 policemen have been deployed for the security of the prime minister in the capital city. He arrived Saturday night to inaugurate the 97th Indian Science Congress here.

The prime minister has three functions in the city and two of his programmes have been re-scheduled to enable him to leave at least 90 minutes earlier, on account of the fog in Delhi. Manmohan Singh is now leaving before 5 p.m.

One reason why the police are putting their best foot forward this time is because the last time the prime minister was here in October 2006 the local police in charge of security drove him along a wrong route, raising security concerns.

This time to ensure nothing goes wrong, there were several trial runs over the past two days.

After the 2006 incident when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's motorcade was driven the wrong way, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had put his foot down and asked Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to take action against the top police officials concerned.

While Achuthanandan had wanted the then director general of police Raman Srivastava to be taken to task for the lapse, the home minister gave marching orders to Manoj Abraham, Thiruvananthapuram commissioner of police, following an inquiry report by Chief Secretary Lizzy Jacob. Abraham was transferred.

For the ordinary citizens of the capital city and those who live on the 15 km stretch from the Kerala Raj Bhavan to the Kerala University campus, where the Science Congress was held, the tight security arrangements gave them a harrowing time since Sunday morning.

"The only good thing that happens during such visits is that the authorities fill up the pot holes on the roads over which the PM's motorcade moves," said a person who had to battle police check posts on his way to church.

Police were posted at several places along the 15 km stretch and stopped people from going on their morning errands like buying bread and milk.

Citizens could be seen arguing angrily with policemen, who were posted since 7 a.m. as part of the security arrangements.

Last updated on Jan 3^rd, 2010 at 14:06 pm IST--IANS