Tight security in Bangalore for peaceful New Year's Eve

About 16,000 police personnel will be on duty late Saturday to maintain vigil across Bangalore and ensure  peaceful New Year's Eve celebrations.

"We are taking maximum precautions to ensure law and order and prevent any untoward incident during the New Year's Eve celebrations by the revellers in the city," a senior police official told IANS. In addition to traffic police and Home Guards, about 20 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 15 platoons of the City Armed Reserve (CAR) have been deployed across the city to enhance security at vital installations and sensitive areas.

"To prevent gridlock and piling up of cars and two-wheelers, parking has been banned in the central business district and Majestic area near the inter-state bus terminus and the city railway station," city's Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) T. Sunil Kumar told IANS.

Police also decided to divert vehicular traffic from 8 p.m. onwards from main thoroughfares, including M.G. Road, Brigade Road, Richmond Road, Residency Road and Commercial Street in downtown as thousands of revellers will be thronging the area to ring in the New Year. "We have already warned the people against rash and drunken driving. Revellers will be allowed to celebrate the New Year fete peacefully and orderly. Action will be taken against those indulging in harassing women or hooliganism. We are not against celebrating the occasion but certainly will not allow the revellers to take law into their hands or cause nuisance to others," Sunil Kumar asserted.

Besides mobile patrolling, hundreds of policemen in plainclothes will be monitoring the revellers from vantage points in public areas to spot trouble-makers and detain them. "Though the state government has allowed bars and restaurants to remain open past midnight till 1 a.m., rash or drunken driving will be strictly dealt with by levying spot fines. Revellers can go home by hiring taxis or in state-run buses, which will ply till 1 a.m.," Kumar added.

The state-run Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has decided to extend its Metro rail service between M.G. Road and Bayyappanahalli in the eastern suburb till 2 a.m. from 10 p.m. for the convenience of revellers celebrating the New Year's Eve.

"Drunk people, however, will not be allowed to enter Metro stations as they may create ruckus and cause nuisance to commuters. The Metro corporation will have to deploy its own security people to prevent any untoward incidents in the coaches and inside the Metros. It will be better if the Metro service is allowed till midnight," Kumar said.