Ongole: Tight security in place for first phase

Ongole: Prakasam district SP Siddharth Kaushal visited various villages under the Martur, Addanki and J Panguluru police stations and inspected the security measures in view of the panchayat elections in the first phase and issued directions to the police officers, on Sunday.

The SP visited Martur, Kondamunjuluru, Renangivaram participated in the Rachabanda meetings with the locals at Martur, Venkatapuram villages to make them aware of the election rules and regulations. He said that people from all sections should cooperate so that the elections can be held peacefully and asked them to vote freely and voluntarily for the candidate of their choice. He said that as the election code is in force, cases would be registered against those who violate the code of conduct and strict action would be taken against them. He informed that people with the information about anyone, who involves in any unscrupulous or anti-social activities, should immediately inform the local police station or inspector. He said that as Section 144 and the AP Police Act were in force, the villagers should behave accordingly and not be crowded in the villages on the day of polling, follow the queue line method at the polling station and not hold any victory rallies without permission.

The SP ordered the para-police to remain vigilant in the duties from the day before the election and to perform the duty assigned to them properly till the orders of the concerned officers are received. The SP told them to immediately inform their Election Returning Officer, concerned police officers and Dial-100 if there is any problem. He thoroughly explained the do's and don'ts of police personnel in this election. He urged the leaders and people of all political parties to cooperate to ensure that the elections are conducted in a peaceful and free environment.

The SP announced that 3 Additional SPs, 13 DSPs, 30 CIs/RIs, 148 SIs/RSIs, 818 ASIs/ARSIs/HCs, 1700 PCs, 700 Home Guards are on duty across the district for the panchayat election. He also said that they have appointed 1,024 village women protection securities, 22 tribal welfare officers, 57 BC welfare, 83 SC welfare officials, 893 teachers, 288 PETs and 740 engineering assistants, 90 APSP, 20 Octopus, 138 personnel from PTC, Vigilance & Enforcement, ACB, Transco, RTC, Fire Department, Forest Department, Legal & Metrology and Marine departments as para-police for the peaceful conduct of the elections.

The AR Additional SP T Shiva Reddy, Chirala DSP P Srikanth Rao, Darsi DSP K. Prakash Rao, Addanki CI A. Anjaneyaredy, Inkollu CI Altaf, SB -1 CI V Suryanarayana, and others also participated in the programmes.