Heavy security for players during India-SA T20 in Odisha

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Sep 25:

An unprecedented 85 platoons of police force will be deployed in the Twin City (Bhubaneswar-Cuttack) for the security of the players during the first T20 International match between India and South Africa at the iconic Barabati Stadium in Odisha’s Cuttack city on October 5.

While 25 platoons would be deployed in Bhubaneswar, where the players would stay, 60 platoons would be pressed into service at Cuttack, where the match would be played, it was decided at a meeting commissionerate police and top officials of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) led by its honorary secretary Asirbad Behera at a preparatory meeting held at the commissionerate police headquarters office here on Thursday.

In view of the heightened threat from Left Wing Extremists and other terrorist groups, anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) personnel will also be deployed at strategic locations like airport, hotels and stadium, Twin city Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr RP Sharma said briefing reporters after the meeting.

“150 CCTV cameras will be installed all over the stadium from entry gates to galleries to keep a close watch on the anti-social activities. This apart, in order to tackle the visitors in and out of the stadium total 500 private security guards will be deployed keeping vigil to ensure nothing went wrong,” Dr Sharma said.

The two teams would arrive in Bhubaneswar on October 3 and will stay at Hotel Mayfair surrounded by security personnel to be supervised by a DCP rank officer.

On the next day, the players will move to Barabati stadium for net practice amid high security.

Spectators will enter the stadium through 18 gates instead of the earlier 14. To avoid duplication of tickets and overcrowding inside the stadium, the OCA has numbered the seats for the first time. The ticket holder will be allotted the seat the number of which is mentioned in his/her ticket, OCA sources said.

This will be the first time Barabati Stadium will host an international T20 match. In the past, however, the stadium has hosted Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 matches.

Barabati Stadium, which can accommodate about 45,000 spectators, will facilitate tickets to the visitors at counters from October 1 till October 3. Tickets will be sold from 9 am to 5 pm on the aforesaid dates, Behera said.

Among others who attended in the meeting were Cuttack DCP Sanjeev Arora, Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrat Bhoi and staff of the hotel where the players will stay.