As Eluru district gears up to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with fervour, the district police on Sunday instructed the Ganesh utsav committees to take measures for peaceful conduct of the festival.

Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore has directed the organisers to monitor the day-to-day programmes at the pandals and take precautionary measures to prevent from any untoward incidents. “The utsav committee members have been requested to follow the instructions of the officers and cooperate the police for smooth conduct of Ganesh utsavams as well as nimajjanam,” the SP said.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSPs) of four zones in the district have visited the villages in the respective zone under their jurisdiction and urged people and organisers to take precautionary measures. The four zones are Eluru, Jangareddygudem, Nuzvid, and Polavaram.

Eluru DSP D. Sravan Kumar arranged a meeting with the residents of Agadala Lanka village, and appealed to the organisers to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with tradition and not to cause any inconvenience to the public.

At an awareness programme held at Kukunur mandal on Sunday, Polavaram DSP K. Jaya Krishna has appealed to the mandapam organisers not to collect donations forcibly and engage children for collecting money from the public.

Meanwhile, Jangareddygudem DSP B.H. Venkateswarlu suggested people to not create traffic congestion. “Devotees are requested not to use sound boxes at mandapams during night hours and take measures to prevent traffic congestions,” he said .

The SP asked the pandal organisers to arrange CCTVs, take precautions while arranging electrification and other arrangements at the mandapams. “Utsavam committee organisers are requested to follow the precautions during nimajjanam and alert the police, if necessary,” Mr. Kishore said.