West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is slated to hold Shahid Divas rally at Esplanade on Saturday, and it is expected to be attended by more than 10 lakh people. To be presided over by the Trinamool Congress chief, lakhs of people have already arrived in Kolkata from different parts of the state. The event is scheduled to begin at 11 am.

Shahid divas or Matryr’s Day is an annual event organised by the Trinamool Congress on July 21 every year, in the memory of 13 people who were killed in police firing in the year 1993. Mamata Banerjee was then the leader of West Bengal Youth Congress and the Left Front was ruling West Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee had launched a ‘Writers Chalo Andolan’ – march to theWest Bengal secretariat – demanding that the voters’ identity card be made the only document to allow people to cast their votes. Police had opened fired at the agitators, killing at least 13 of them.

According to political analysts, the Trinamool Congress supremo is likely to sound the bugle for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

To ensure smooth organisation of the event, the Kolkata Police has chalked out elaborate security arrangements while the traffic police department has also taken all measures to keep the city snarl free during the grand event.

Security arrangements:

Sources told Zee News that a total of 6,000 police personnel have been deployed across the city while at least 40 police pickets have been put in place. Apart from this, five watch towers have been set up