Overview

• Permission for Azad Maidan covers 9 am to 6 pm with a 5,000 cap, bans rallies and loudspeakers, limits vehicles to five, and excludes weekends and public holidays.
• Over 1,500 Mumbai Police are on duty with companies of the CRPF, RAF, CISF and Maharashtra Security Force at the venue, and railway units have reinforced CSMT.
• Authorities forecast a large influx of supporters, with estimates reaching nearly 40,000, and have denied other protests as the ground can hold only about 5,000 people at once.
• Traffic police announced closures on key corridors including the Eastern Freeway, P D’Mello Road and sections connecting Vashi, with alternative routes advised; extra RPF and GRP staff are posted at stations.
• The state signaled readiness for talks and vowed to protect OBC rights as OBC leaders warned of counter-agitations if their quota share is affected.