12 Kolkata: The massive Christmas crowd across Kolkata's hotspots and the fact that the new year will be ushered in two days after a weekend have led cops to plan traffic tweaks. But they have decided not to shut down Park Street or "any important arterial road" on New Year's Eve "unless closer to midnight".
On Thursday, cops carried out a review of traffic, and pedestrian movement, in the Park Street area and decided there will be slight changes on New Year's Eve. "We needed to shut Park Street for just two-and-a-half hours on Dec 25, and there was no major traffic bottleneck reported across the city except for the slowing down of vehicles for a short while on JL Nehru Road. We are trying to perform even better this New Year's Eve," an officer said.
The first step will be to stop vehicular movement towards Park Street from JL Nehru Road-Lindsay Street crossing "periodically, as and when required" if there is a bottleneck at the Park Street flyover approach. Instead, these vehicles will be asked to go over the flyover and enter the Park Street zone through Ho Chi Minh Sarani.
Secondly, cops will deploy extra personnel to man the barricades to ensure there are no breaks. "We deployed teams to report barricade breaks and repair them at the earliest even on Christmas. Given our experience, we will increase their presence in this area from this weekend," said an officer.
Thirdly, if required, vehicles coming from CR Avenue and SN Banerjee Road, heading south beyond Exide, will be diverted via RR Avenue and Red Road towards SSKM Hospital. This will help decongest the Park Street area, a plan that worked on Christmas evening. Lastly, given the pressure of vehicles from Outram Road, even if cops don't shut down Park Street, they will keep Kyd Street-Free School Street-Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road and Ho Chi Minh Sarani-Camac Street-Short Street — two alternative routes to Park Street — pedestrian-free as far as possible.
Just like Christmas, inspectors will lead security teams even at malls. The Park Street area will be manned by 10 DCPs, with the main area divided into six core zones, each with watch towers. One of the big challenges will be to counter drink driving, said cops who are likely to continue with special raids every day. Traffic cops have already prosecuted 319 motorists and bikers each night since Dec 20, and 157 arrests were carried out for indecent behaviour on Christmas Day.
Cops have decided not to allow anyone to roam around and block eatery entrances. Local cops and PCR vans will keep an eye outside the watering holes.
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