Tight security, drone surveillance in UP today

Tight security arrangements have been made in major cities in Uttar Pradesh in view of Friday prayers and also the protests over 'Agnipath' scheme.

Drone surveillance will be carried out in sensitive areas, officials said.

While police across the state have been put on high alert for Friday prayers, the government has deployed additional state and central paramilitary forces as a precautionary measure to contain any sporadic outbursts.

In addition, 200 companies of PAC and 50 companies of Rapid Action Force have also been deployed in the state to maintain peace.

Special focus is on security in Prayagraj, Kanpur, Lucknow, Moradabad and Saharanpur.

So far 357 persons have been arrested in nine districts for the violence after Friday prayers in some of the districts on June 10.

Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Avanish Awasthi and DGP D.S. Chauhan have told the senior police and district officials that strict action would be taken in case of any laxity on Friday.

A home official said the police and administrative officers were told to cooperate and communicate with the prominent religious leaders in their jurisdiction.

CCTV, video cameras and drones will be used at all the sensitive places as per the requirement and 'sector plan' be implemented by the police, officials said.

ADG, law and order, Prashant Kumar, said 53 districts have been identified under two categories: hyper-sensitive and sensitive.

Among 24 hyper-sensitive districts are Prayagraj, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Ayodhya, Varanasi while 29 sensitive districts include Etah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Barabanki and others.

"These 53 districts will be under the watch of DGP headquarters on Friday. Drones will be used for surveillance in the narrow lanes and alleys of hypersensitive districts," he said.

The district police chiefs and police commissioners in districts have been directed to give hourly updates to DGP headquarters on Friday.

They will also share record of the peace meetings held with religious leaders, deployment of force along with measures taken for prevention of violence which include 'samvad' with youth.

Lucknow Police Commissioner D.K. Thakur said adequate force has been deployed in sensitive areas and meetings with religious heads are being done.

Inspector General of Police (Prayagraj Range) Dr Rakesh Singh said, "Adequate security arrangements have been made for Friday prayers and forces have been deployed at identified pockets. We have drafted a sector-wise security plan to maintain law and order. The city has been divided into more than a dozen sectors."

Apart from digital volunteers, cybercrime teams have been maintaining a strict watch on social media and appealed people not to post derogatory or inflammatory remarks or upload such videos else strict action would be initiated accordingly.

Police in Azamgarh, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti, Meerut, Agra, Mathura conducted mock drills, while religious leaders appealed for maintaining peace.