Bangalore: Heavy security has turned the Chinnaswamy stadium here into a fortress for the first of the T20 matches between archrivals India and Pakistan Dec 25. With the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) handing over the stadium to the city police Saturday for sanitising and securing it from any potential trouble, hundreds of police personnel moved in and around the venue.
About 5,000 police personnel will be deployed from Sunday in and around the stadium, along the 1 km route from the star hotel where the two teams will stay and the city centre where the venue is located.
“As maintaining law and order and providing security are our primary duty, we will take stern action against anyone trying to disrupt the match,” city Police Commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji said Saturday.
Asserting that there would be no compromise on the security of players and spectators, the police chief told reporters that no protests or demonstrations would be allowed in and around the stadium from Sunday to Tuesday.
“As the governments of both the countries have agreed to hold the bilateral series, no organisation will be allowed to disrupt the match,” Mirji said.
The police chief made the observations in light of recent statements by the right-wing Hindu organisations like Shiv Sena and Sri Ram Sene threatening to disrupt the series between the two neighbouring countries.
In addition to heavy deployment, there will be round-the-clock surveillance from Sunday to Tuesday, with closed circuit televisions (CCTV) sets installed in and around the stadium, the players’ bus route and the hotel they stay.
“Vehicular traffic will be restricted and parking banned 1 km in and around the stadium on the match day from 11am to midnight. A bomb squad and a dog squad will be engaged to prevent any untoward incident,” Mirji said.
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