Police gear up across city for incident-free New Year celebration

Kolkata: Kolkata and Bidhannagar Police have made elaborate security arrangements for New Year's eve. Special focus will be given to Park Street, Victoria memorial, Alipore Zoo, Eco Park and shopping malls.

According to police, the night clubs, bars and hotels will be kept under strict vigil. Also police personnel in uniform and plain clothes will monitor shopping malls and Metro stations across the city.

21 divisional mobile vans will be patrolling the city round-the-clock. Also, 13 Quick Response Team (QRT) and 14 Heavy Radio Flying Squad (HRFS) vans will be posted at strategic points in the city to prevent any untoward incident during the festive season.

No extension will be provided to the bars and strict vigil will be kept to maintain law and order. Police personnel in plain clothes will roam in the gatherings to stop any and suspicious movement.

To maintain strict vigil in Park Street, several watchtowers have been installed in and around the area. Sources informed that several senior police officers of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) rank will be posted at and around the Park Street area, who would supervise the force from time to time.

To maintain law and order the whole Park Street area has been divided into multiple zones. Apart from the police arrangements, 16 police assistance booths will also be there to assist people. The Disaster Management Group (DMG) team will kept in the area as well, for urgent intervention.

Apart from police personnel in uniform, Detective Department (DD) teams, police personnel in plain clothes and ARS teams will be deployed across the city. Special 'naka checking' to prevent drunken driving will also be in place.

Apart from Kolkata Police, Bidhannagar Police has arranged for tight security in its area as well. According to senior officials of Bidhannagar Police, around 2,000 police personnel will be deployed on December 31 and January 1, including traffic. Main focus will be given on Eco Park, Nicco Park, City Centre (Salt Lake and New Town), Sector V and other places where large gathering of people is expected.

Special attention will be given to major arterial roads and VIP Road for smooth movement of traffic. Also Baguiati, Chinar Park, Lake Town and Rajarhat Vedic Village area will be monitored.

Special mobile police vans and ambulances will be deployed in Sector V, Karunamoyee, Lake Town crossing, Chinar Park and New Town. Anti-molestation and anti-crime units will ply across the Bidhannagar Police jurisdiction.

Since December 25, the traffic arrangements made in New Town and other places were successful as no traffic congestion occurred. Locals claimed that till last year, some roads in New Town were made 'no entry' for which they had to face problems. No diversion was made this year but traffic still ran smoothly.