Heavy security will be present at beaches where devotees are expected to perform Chhat Puja on Tuesday.
"We expect around four lakh persons at the Juhu beach and we will provide a lot of personnel on the beach for the security of the devotees," Archana Tyagi, Additonal Commissioner of Police (West Region) said on Monday.
Police personnel will also be present in large number on the approach roads leading to the beach, she said.
The police will also be using 22 close circuit television cameras (CCTVs) to monitor the movement of crowd and the cameras will be placed at approach roads as well at Juhu Beach.
In addition to the local police, 16 companies of the State Reserve Police (SRP) force will be present as well as companies from the Rapid Action Force.
11 watch towers, 25 BMC life guards and 50 private life guards, boats, floodlights are available at the beach to prevent any untoward incident.
"We expect Chhat Puja to be performed at approximately 19 places in the city and the majority of the crowd would be expected at the Juhu Beach," said K L Prasad, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order).
Organizers will be permitted to perform only religious activities pertaining to Chhat Puja and no entertainment programmes will be permitted, he said.
In order to prevent miscreants disrupting the Puja, known troublemakers are likely to be placed under preventive arrests on Tuesday, Tyagi said.
However, she refused to specify the number of persons and who they are.
The police have also said that no banners from any political parties would be permitted on the beaches where Chhat Puja is being performed.
Policemen deputed at the beach said that for the first time CCTVs have been installed at the four kilometer long beach.
"With controversy surrounding over the Chhat Puja, we have been ordered to keep watch every movement of the crowd," the officer said.
The work to erect watch towers and various stages for the festival is in full swing at the beach on Monday.
However, despite the political drama, the devotees believe that the festival would be celebrated grandly and people would turn up in large numbers.
"No threats can dampen the spirit of the festival. Such controversies in fact bring the people together which will reflect eventually the unity. There is no panic at all," said Sunil Jha, an auto driver who hails from Bihar.
Explaining the importance of Chhat Puja, Mohan Mishra, head of Chhat Utsav Mahasangh who has been organising the festival at Juhu beach since 1993, said that the people pay obeisance to the setting and rising sun and pray the god to protect them from evil and problems.
The Chhat Puja was unnecessarily dragged into controversy by some political parties keeping in mind with its vote bank, he said.
"All other festivals such as Ganeshutsav, Eid, Navratri, Diwali and Gokulastami have also been politicised by various political parties by putting up huge banners and posters on every nook and corner, but these so-called political parties had never had problems," he added.
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