Student volunteers help police this Ganeshotsav

Pune rural police initiate internship programme; over 4,000 students from district to help cops maintain law and order during fest

Pune rural police initiate internship programme; over 4,000 students from district to help cops maintain law and order during fest
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After the success of the student internship programme conducted by the city police, the rural police have also initiated a similar programme. Around 4,000 students from across the district will assist the police in maintaining law and order for the duration of the Ganeshotsav.

In Lonavala, over a hundred students from Lonavala College have been maintaining vigil in strategic locations in the backdrop of the high terror alert which was issued for Mumbai and Pune during the festival.

Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural), Pratap Dighavkar said, "We are taking help from the college students for the traffic management and crowd control during the entire festival. I feel this is of great benefit because they are young, enthusiastic and keen to learn."

Night patrolling
"An association called Village Defence Party has also begun night patrolling in around 800 villages of Pune district like Baramati, Daund. This association is a voluntary task force comprising of college going students in the village. Five students are patrolling each village during the night," Dighavkar added.

Police Inspector Balram Lanjile from the Lonavala city police station said, "120 students including 12 girls from the Lonavala Arts and Commerce college have been given basic instructions about crowd control, identifying suspicious persons and dealing with unclaimed objects or vehicles. They started functioning from Wednesday.

"This exercise will be an opportunity for the students to learn about how the police operates and also provide additional manpower during the festive season."

The students have been provided with police caps, temporary identity cards and blow-whistles while on duty. Khandala, Shivaji Chowk, Bangarwadi, Tungarli are some of the few major areas covered by them.