According to Chavan, if a public holiday is declared then the crowd of people coming to South Mumbai for work will reduce drastically, and additional police force would be available on the day of the match for protection and security of the cricketers and the stadium.
On Friday the chief minister furnished information to the media about the plans and deployment of police worked out by the Mumbai police for the Cricket World Cup final, stating at the same time that if a special public holiday is declared on the match day, the pressure on the police would be reduced significantly.
Elaborating further on the security aspects, Chavan said that there would be adequate police deployment in the Wankhede stadium and the premises around the stadium. More than 10,000 policemen will be deployed for the security purposes. Senior police officers present at the press conference told the chief minister that if public holiday is declared in Mumbai, additional 1000 policemen would be available for duty.
Millions of people arrive in Mumbai daily to attend to their jobs and several thousand vehicles enter South Mumbai. Several people who do not come to South Mumbai usually, would come on the cricket match day. Since the final will be a day night match, cricket crazy fans of Mumbai are likely to rush home after their work time is over to watch the match on the TV channels. If this happens then there would be traffic jam of people leaving and arriving in South Mumbai to watch the match. Apart from that it would also build up a pressure on the local trains and buses, which would make it difficult to control the situation.
A senior police official said: “Already there is an apprehension of a terrorist attack during the CWC final in Mumbai. And in light of huge crowd turning up for the match, there is a possibility of terrific traffic jam in South Mumbai. However, if a special public holiday is declared on the match day, this would help in solving the crowd and traffic problem.”
Several VIPs are expected to arrive in Mumbai to watch the final of the Cricket World Cup. Specials guests of India’s richest industrialist Mukesh Ambani are also slated to arrive in the city to watch the match. The police would be given the responsibility of extending protection to the VIPs and their guests along with that of the cricket players. Besides the police will also have to draw special plans to ensure that no untoward incident including that of terrorism takes place in Mumbai on the match day.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Rajkumar Vhatkar said that to avoid any terrorist attack on the match day, the help of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been sought. The IAF choppers would keep a watch on the stadium from the sky by doing routine sortie.
“ There is a possibility that terrorists may sneak into the stadium by buying tickets. Apart, the terrorists may launch attack through para-gliders, and small unmanned aircraft,” he added.
Earlier federal intelligence agencies have issued high alert to the Mumbai police on several occasions warning of an terrorist attack in the city, specially at the stadium where the final of the Cricket World Cup would be held.
