In a joint drive, the police stations under the Commissionerate Police in Bhubaneswar, POPD, Team-60 and OCPO Cell had recovered the stolen bikes and cellphones from different places. Total 81 cellphones and 27 motorcycles were recovered during the drive.

Highest 25 mobile phones were recovered by OCPO Cell and 20 by Sahidnagar police station. Similarly, Khandagiri police station recovered maximum 23 bikes followed by Capital PS with 14 and Tomando PS with one bike.

Police Commissioner Soumendra Priyadarshi, Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh handed over the keys of recovered bikes and phones to the rightful owners after verification of the document at a meal in the campus of the Commissionerate. Senior police officers were also present at the mela.

The Commissionerate Police has recovered 984 mobile phones and returned 828 of those to the owners. It has also recovered 324 bikes and handed over 167 to the owners so far this year. In 2022, police had returned 1250 stolen mobile phones to the owners.

A special team, headed by an Additional DCP, has been constituted to ensure security to the Bol Bom devotees who will go on foot carrying the holy water from rivers. He will be assisted by 5 ACPs, 8 Inspectors, 39 Sub-Inspectors and ASIs.

In order to maintain traffic movement, law & order and avoid any ontoward incident, as many as 12 patrolling teams and 13 PCR vans will keep a close eye on the routes of the Kanwariyas. Arrangement has also been made for providing first-aid at mobile medical units at prominent places in the city. An additional force of 5 platoons of police will be deployed for safety of the Kanwarias and regulating the traffic.

As per tradition, Kanwarias collected holy water from different rivers on Sunday and moved on the roads carrying the Bahungis (slings with two pots hanging on both sides) on their shoulders to visit Shiva shrines on Monday. They chanted ‘Bol Bom, Hare Hare Bom’ all along the route.