Lalbaugcha Raja mandal tells cops it is 'not humanly possible' to conduct pat-down search on every visitor
The Lalbaugcha Raja mandal will not be frisking every devotee as desired by the police.
Last evening a special police team was at the Ganapati mandal to tell the members they should frisk every person seeking darshan.
The mandal replied it was not humanly possible in view of the large number of devotees involved.
Yesterday evening, a special police team was at the Lalbaugcha Raja Ganapati mandal to tell the members they should frisk every person seeking darshan.
Rajendra Lanjwal, a senior member of the mandal, said a group of policemen had come to meet him and gave him instructions on how to manage the security during the upcoming Ganeshotsav.
"We have been told to physically frisk every individual coming in, that all the borders should be sealed, and other important things of the kind," said Lanjwal.
"However, it's not possible to do it; we can't physically frisk every individual coming in as the crowd is huge."
Every day more than 15 lakh devotees visit Lalbaugcha Raja; the queue for darshan is several kilometres long.
The mandal does set up a metal detection frame and there is always heavy police presence, but with the growing threat of terrorist attacks in recent times, an upgrade in security measures was proposed by the police.
"There are no specific alerts about a threat to Ganpati mandals. We are taking routine precautionary measures," said a senior officer from the Crime Branch.
Devotees think that while extra security measures will make their wait in the queue longer, it is still better than compromising on safety.
"Security always comes as an inconvenience, but it's always a trade off between security and convenience," said Vishal Shah, a resident of Breach Candy. "However, we do need security because of the growing safety concerns."
Others echoed Shah's sentiments.
"I know it's practically impossible to check everyone coming in, but the thing is that with growing security concerns one cannot avoid it," said Samarth Shandilya a resident of Malad. "I would prefer waiting for a longer time than dying." | 
