Security beefed up in Kerala for Kalam visit

Security has been beefed up in the Kerala capital as President APJ Abdul Kalam arrives in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday on a two-day visit.

Kalam is scheduled to arrive at the airport in Thiruvananthapuram at 5.30 pm and to then head straight to the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology to inaugurate a seminar there.

The President will visit the Santhigiri Ashram at Pothencode on the city suburbs at 8:30 pm and interact with the inmates and students of the ashram.

He is to leave for Kanyakumari on Friday after spending the night at Raj Bhavan in the capital.

The state's police personnel are leaving no stone unturned for the president's security. They have set up safe houses—buildings where VIPs can be shifted to in case of an emergency.

A vehicle carrying a mobile jammer would accompany Kalam's motorcade wherein all electronic signals in a radius of two sq km would be jammed.

Apart from the nearly 1,300 policemen who are posted in and around the places Kalam is scheduled to visit, there are 40 trained commandos who would move along with the dignitary.

The police have been on a high alert since Tuesday night and were seen conducting regular checks on vehicles.