City Police to chalk out blueprint for better management in 2018

Kolkata: Taking a cue from this year's immersion carnival at Red Road, the top brass of the Kolkata Police are all set to prepare a new plan of action with their assessment of more crowd including tourists, mainly foreigners, who turn up to watch the extravaganza in 2018.

There was a high-level meeting in the city police's headquarters at Lalbazar on Wednesday in which senior police officers reviewed the performance of the force in controlling both crowd and traffic during Durga Puja and the carnival that was held on October 3 on Red Road.

Sources said that most officers, who were present in the meeting, stated that there will be more crowd at Red Road to watch the immersion procession in 2018. They are also considering that the carnival is going to attract more tourists mainly from abroad in the coming years. So they felt the need of making an appropriate arrangements to maintain law and order along with proper traffic management. Sources said that the police officers have stressed upon the "need of additional preparation" for the carnival next year.

It was learnt that the senior police officers have also discussed about the increase in the number of spectators on both sides along Red Road as per their prediction. Sources said that based on their prediction, the Kolkata Police had made all necessary arrangements to ensure a trouble-free carnival this year. After becoming successful in implementing their plan of action this time that helped in ensuring a well managed traffic movement during the carnival that continued for around three hours on Red Road, concerned officers of the city police will be engaged to prepare a new blueprint following necessary assessment for the next year.

In Wednesday's meeting, the police officers have expressed satisfaction over the management of crowd and traffic besides pointing out the areas where they need to work out further for improvement.

It is learnt that in the meeting, there was a discussion about the crowd at Durga Puja mandaps including that of Naktala Udayan Sangha, Santosh Mitra Square, Deshapriya Park and Sree Bhumi Sporting Club. Things passed off peacefully at all these Puja mandaps. But there was a sudden rush on Navami night at these Puja mandaps. Though the police have managed the entire situation this time, they are planning to discuss certain matters so that crowd management near these Puja mandaps can be done in a better way.

It was also learnt that deputy commissioners of the respective areas will be asked to assess the situation along with other concerned senior police officers who are well aware about these Pujas to prepare a plan of action in consultation with the headquarters so that the crowd and traffic can be managed properly next year. The police officers will also speak to the Puja organisers in this regard.