After four masked men broke into a church in Tarn Taran, vandalised it after setting the pastor’s car on fire on Wednesday, the district police initiated a campaign — ‘One religious place one police personnel’, here on Friday. The motive of the campaign is to keep an eye on anti-social elements. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Punjab, Arpit Shukla along with Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vivek Sheel Soni, visited various religious places and met the managers to discuss the security issues.
The ADGP visited Gurudwara Singh Shaheedan Sohana, Sri Badrinath Temple, Sector 78, Jamia Masjid, Phase 11 and CNI Church, Sector 78.
During the visit, the police officers discussed security arrangements like CCTV cameras, and verification of staff and security personnel. The concerned managements at the religious places were also sensitised in this regard.
The district has a total of 697 gurudwaras, 254 temples, 79 mosques and 20 churches.
The ADGP has directed to ensure the checking of security arrangements at various religious places.
Each religious place will be earmarked to one police official who will visit every 15 days and check the working of CCTVs (whether it is recording the footage, has attached power backup, covers vital points, etc.), ensure proper display boards are placed for surveillance, liaise with night chowkidars, etc.
“This initiative will be completed in the next two days,” the ADGP said.
SSP Mohali Vivek Sheel Soni also requested people to cooperate with the management of various religious organisations to install CCTVs. He added that necessary instructions were passed on to the SHOs and DSPs to ensure 100 per cent coverage.
Meanwhile, special nakas were also set up in the city. A total of 26 nakas were set up, 72 traffic violators were challaned and 17 vehicles were impounded.
A total of 963 suspicious persons were rounded up and verified.