Hyderabad Police Deploy Special Forces and SHE Teams for Bonalu Festival Security

On Tuesday, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar directed officials to deploy specialised police units, SHE Teams, and traffic personnel across major temple areas, including Golconda, Balkampet, Secunderabad, and Lal Darwaza, to secure the upcoming Bonalu festival. The festival is scheduled to take place from July 16 to August 13.

Commissioner Sajjanar reviewed the security preparations during a video conference with senior officers. He stated that the festival is expected to draw massive crowds at the Secunderabad Ujjaini Mahankali temple, Balkampet, Golconda, and Lal Darwaza. He instructed officials to implement proactive security measures tailored to the expected footfall at each venue.

To prevent any untoward incidents, the Hyderabad police will deploy personnel from the Task Force, Rapid Action Force, City Armed Reserve, and Quick Reaction Teams, alongside local police units. Public address systems will also be installed around temple premises to assist in crowd management and to communicate important information to devotees.

The safety of women devotees is a major focus of this year's security plan. Police officials announced that SHE Teams will maintain continuous surveillance throughout the festivities to prevent harassment and other crimes. During previous Bonalu celebrations, 644 persons were caught harassing women, and officials stated that similar intensive monitoring will continue this year.

In addition to crowd control, the traffic police have been instructed to implement comprehensive traffic regulation plans around all temple areas to ensure the smooth movement of devotees. Adequate police personnel will also be deployed along Bonalu processions, Potharaju performances, and Ghatam processions to ensure the events pass off without incident.

The review meeting was attended in person by Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order, South Zone) Tafseer Iqbal, DCP (Administration) Venkatalakshmi, and Additional DCP S.B. Narasimha Rao. Senior law and order, traffic, and crime officers from across Hyderabad also participated in the meeting via video conference.