Meera Borwankar stresses on fitness to handle terror threat

The new police commissioner of Pune, Meera Borwankar today said she would place a special emphasis on the "fitness and preparedness" of the staff deployed to respond to terrorist threats in the city, rocked by the February 13 blast at the German Bakery that claimed 17 lives.

Borwankar, who happens to be the first woman to take over the top job in the city, told reporters that she had already reviewed the training and fitness aspect of the force manning the sensitive areas, identified after the terror attack.

"I have already taken a review of this particular aspect -- fitness and preparedness -- with regard to the force deployed to handle terrorist threats and to prevent a repeat of February 13 will be my top priority," Borwankar who succeeded Satyapal Singh last week, stated at a "Meet the Press" programme, organised by Pune Union of Working Journalists here.

She said police would be initiating proper measures to deal with terror perception during the forthcoming Ganesh festival in the city which is a massive cultural event, attracting large assemblies of people.

On her predecessor's aborted campaign to enforce a ban on wearing head scarves for women two-wheeler riders in the city which became controversial, Borwankar said she did not favour the measure intended to curb possible terror activities using a masked face.