As Delhiites gear up to kick in their New Year with a celebratory bang, the Delhi Police is busy making its own special plans. To thwart untoward incidents of drunk driving, eve-teasing and brawls on New Year’s Eve, the Delhi Police has increased security arrangements across the city.
According to a Delhi Police official, a three-layer security arrangement, which would include traffic route diversions, prosecution for drunken driving and brawls, and strong integrated pickets at various locations in the city, is likely to be put in place on the night of 31 December across the national capital.
Upmarket party haunts in Delhi like, Hauz Khas Village, Vasant Kunj, Connaught Place, and Nehru Place amongst others will also see a strong presence of police force to keep law and order in place.
All vehicular movements will be restricted in the inner, outer and middle circles of Connaught Place. Therefore, anybody heading towards Connaught Place will either need to have a prior booking at the pubs, or will have to park their vehicles at a far off place and walk to their location.
Madhur Verma, spokesperson of Delhi Police, told The Sunday Guardian, “We have planned for an elaborate security arrangement on New Year’s Eve to prevent any unforeseen incidents. Strong pickets will be put around the city along with mounted forces for a show of strength. All district police personnel along with PCRs and local police will be on ground. Senior police officers, along with DCPs, will be patrolling the city.”
He further added that additional reserved police force and some paramilitary forces will also be put on duty across the capital. The police will also have their Quick Response Teams (QRTs) and Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) on standby for any emergency.
However, the Delhi Police has said that their primary focus would be on drunk driving and drunken brawls in the city, for which they have also launched a strong campaign on social media.
“We will have a strong prosecution drive against drunken driving in the capital. There would be no compromise on that. It is requested to the people to not drink and drive as it puts both their, as well as others’ lives, in danger,” Verma said. “We have been campaigning about this for several months and we hope people will take a cab back home instead of driving in case they are drunk,” Verma added.
The Delhi Police has also partnered with app-based cab aggregators like Uber and Ola to put up stations outside bars and malls to ferry partygoers home safely.