Over 0.6m security personnel put in place for election duty
Monday, 29 December 2008
Over 0.6 million (600,000) security personnel, including nearly 50,000 military troops, built an unprecedented security bulwark across the country for today's crucial election to parliament, reports UNB.
Home Ministry officials told the news agency Sunday that the deployment of law-enforcers at polling centres began at 6.00 am and election materials started moving to remote stations under strict guard.
They said ballot boxes, ballot papers and other materials would be dispatched to remote areas in the hill tracts by helicopters.
The officials said, members of 80,567 police, RAB and Armed Police Battalion and 466,000 Ansar personnel were posted across the country-the highest ever number for policing polls in the country's history. In Dhaka City alone 38, 928 police and Ansar personnel have been deployed, also the highest-ever number in the capital.
Besides, nearly 50,000 Army men will be in place as striking force in district and upazila headquarters to fend off any trouble, as the general election was being held at a critical time against a grim backdrop in the political arena after the lapse of two years since the 1/11 changeover.
Col Mohammad Anisuzzaman, director (Training and Operation) of BDR, said that the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles would be on guard independently in 70 out of 87 frontier upazilas while with Army contingents in 16 frontier upazilas "to ensure that any subversive or terrorist act does not take place".
Navy will look after the election security in the coastal Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazaar.
Home Ministry officials told the news agency Sunday that the deployment of law-enforcers at polling centres began at 6.00 am and election materials started moving to remote stations under strict guard.
They said ballot boxes, ballot papers and other materials would be dispatched to remote areas in the hill tracts by helicopters.
The officials said, members of 80,567 police, RAB and Armed Police Battalion and 466,000 Ansar personnel were posted across the country-the highest ever number for policing polls in the country's history. In Dhaka City alone 38, 928 police and Ansar personnel have been deployed, also the highest-ever number in the capital.
Besides, nearly 50,000 Army men will be in place as striking force in district and upazila headquarters to fend off any trouble, as the general election was being held at a critical time against a grim backdrop in the political arena after the lapse of two years since the 1/11 changeover.
Col Mohammad Anisuzzaman, director (Training and Operation) of BDR, said that the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles would be on guard independently in 70 out of 87 frontier upazilas while with Army contingents in 16 frontier upazilas "to ensure that any subversive or terrorist act does not take place".
Navy will look after the election security in the coastal Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazaar.