Kolkata, Feb 28 (IANS) As the final voters’ list in West Bengal is all set to be published on Saturday, the police have been directed to be ready for any kind of eventuality.

According to a police order issued late Friday night, the battalion headquarters has been advised to ensure maximum mobilisation of the forces personnel at the battalion headquarters.

The individual division and unit heads have been asked to withdraw personnel from routine and non-essential duties and keep them under reserve to face any eventuality amid apprehension of tension following the publication of the final voters’ list.

Already, the first 240 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel that will be deployed in West Bengal in the first phase from March 1 have started arriving to the state in batches since Friday.

The first batch of 240 companies that will be deployed on March 1 will include 110 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 55 companies of Border Security Force (BSF), 21 companies of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), 27 companies of Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP), and 27 companies of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

It is unprecedented that the CAPF deployment is done even before the announcement of the polling dates and the enforcement of the model code of conduct.

In the second batch, another 240 companies will be deployed on March 10.

Already the Election Commission of India (ECI) had decided that the vehicles allotted to the CAPF personnel, whose deployment in West Bengal will start from March 1 amid the crucial Assembly elections in the state scheduled later this year, will be fitted with GPS trackers to ensure that the Commission appointed central observers can constantly monitor whether the deployed CAPF personnel are effectively utilised from day one or not.

The ECI had already given clear instructions that the CAPF companies deployed will not be allowed to sit idle, and from day one, they will have to be utilised for area domination and get acquainted with the geography of the state.

–IANS

src/svn