Bangalore prepares to celebrate New Year amid tight security

Bangalore prepares to celebrate New Year amid tight security

The Hindu

4,000 civil policemen, 50 platoons of the KSRP to be deployed in city

BANGALORE: Bangalore will be on alert but will also celebrate New Year Eve's with characteristic enthusiasm. The police have made unprecedented security arrangements for the celebrations in the city in the wake of terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science on Wednesday and the threat that explosions will be triggered in the city on the night of December 31.

Quick reaction teams

Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh told presspersons on Friday that in addition to 4,000 civil policemen of different ranks, 50 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police and three quick reaction teams (QRTs) of the city police will be deployed from Saturday morning. Mine detection teams and three QRTs from the Indian Army will also be deployed.

A bomb detection squad and tracker dogs were pressed into service from Friday. Doorframe and hand-held metal detectors will be used to screen people. A majority of personnel will be deployed in the central areas of the city where revellers gather in large numbers, Dr. Singh said.

No entry for vehicles

The police have banned vehicles on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Brigade Road, Church Street, Museum Road, Rest House Road and Kamaraj Road on the New Year's eve. Vehicles from both directions will not be allowed on these roads from 8 p.m. on Saturday to 1 a.m. on Sunday.

Vehicles proceeding towards Cantonment areas from Ulsoor should take a right turn near Trinity Circle, enter Ulsoor Road, take a left turn at Dickenson Road and proceed on Cubbon Road.

Vehicles proceeding towards Ulsoor from Queen's statue junction after 8 p.m. on Saturday can proceed through Anil Kumble Circle, Central Street, Cubbon Road and Webb's junction.

The police have prohibited parking of vehicles from Anil Kumble Circle to Trinity Circle on Mahatma Gandhi Road, from Cauvery Emporium to Opera junction on Brigade Road, Church Street, Museum Road and Rest House Road from 3 p.m. on Saturday to 3 a.m. on Sunday. The police will tow away vehicles parked in these areas after 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Parking is permitted on both sides of Kamaraj Road from Kamaraj Road junction to Commercial Street junction. Parking of private vehicles is permitted at the Shivajinagar bus stand and on Kings Road in Cubbon Park.

The management of The Grand Ashok said that it has heightened security in view of the threat that "Al-Jihadis" will carry out explosions at the hotel at 10.30 p.m. on Saturday. The personnel of bomb detection and disposal squads, who conducted searches at the hotel on Friday, did not find any explosives.

Police forces have been deployed at the hotel.