About 3K cops deployed, Park Street will remain open for vehicular traffic today

KOLKATA: Kolkata Police personnel are all geared up to ensure a safe and secure New Year's eve for the citizens. Security arrangements have been beefed up, especially for Park Street and other crowded areas, on New Year's eve and on January 1.

Around 3,000 police personnel will be deployed on December 31 across the city to prevent any untoward incident. Park Street will remain open for vehicular traffic all along. On January 1, around 3500 cops will be deployed in the city. About 15 police assistance booths will be there in the Park Street area, where women police personnel will be deployed.

On Thursday, Joint Commissioner of Police (Jt. CP), Headquarters, Subhankar Sinha Sarkar informed that people would be requested to follow Covid protocols through the public address system. "People will not be allowed to enter Park Street without wearing masks. If anybody found not wearing a mask, necessary legal action will follow," he said.

According to sources, all night clubs, bars and hotels in the area are being kept under strict vigil. Police personnel in uniform and plain clothes will monitor the shopping malls and Metro stations across the city while divisional mobile vans will be patrolling Kolkata round-the-clock. Apart from this, two Quick Response Teams (QRT) along with Heavy Radio Flying Squad (HRFS) vans will be posted at strategic points in the city to prevent any untoward incident.

In and around Park Street, cops will keep a strict vigil from 11 watch towers and CCTV cameras. Police will also patrol in and around Park Street riding 20 motorcycles. Park Street has been divided into 11 sectors. Five Deputy Commissioners (DC) will be in-charge of these sectors. Joint Commissioner of Police (Establishment), Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi will be in-charge of the overall supervision.

This apart, special naka-checking will be done by the traffic police to stop errant drivers and two-wheeler riders. Special naka-checking will be done to stop drunk driving. Anti-crime teams from the Detective Department (DD) and Anti-Rowdy Squad (ARS) will maintain strict vigil across the city in order to intervene in case of any deterioration of the law and order situation. The Disaster Management Group (DMG) team will also be on standby.

Also, two teams of River Traffic Police will patrol on the river Hooghly.

It may be mentioned that the driving licences of 272 drivers and two-wheeler riders have been recommended to be suspended for a certain period for talking over mobile phones while riding.