R-Day celebrations pass off peacefully

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With a massive troop deployment turning Lutyens’ Delhi into a virtual fortress, the Republic Day parade, which was attended by the top brass of the country’s political and bureaucratic leadership, passed off peacefully without any untoward incident.

A 55,000 strong gun-totting force drawn from central agencies and the Delhi police was fanned out across market places, critical installations like educational institutes and hospitals and vital intersections to prevent any infiltration into the area around Rajpath. The forces had erected barricades on crucial routes leading to Rajpath, the venue of celebrations, where President Pratibha Patel took salute from the armed forces.
A three-tier security ring was thrown around Rajpath and 15 QRT teams were deployed to tackle any eventuality during the celebrations. “Sharpshooters were deployed on highrise buildings to track movements and around 20 dog squads were deployed in Lutyens’ Delhi,” a senior police official said.
The vigil was also been increased at “sensitive” locations across the capital and intelligence gathering had been raised since the last week so that no terror elements could manage to sneak into the city to disrupt celebrations.
The officials had asked the members of its “eye and ear policing” scheme in markets and other crowded places to give active inputs on any suspicious movement.
Traffic police was deployed in extra numbers at important junctions to avoid any inconvenience to the citizens, in case of traffic signal breakdown.
“We deployed extra police personnel at important junctions to handle the rush of people attending the celebrations,” a senior traffic police official said.