Kolkata, Oct. 13 -- Kolkata Police will deploy around 12,000 personnel, along with 21,000 Temporary Home Guards and Civic Volunteers, to manage crowds and traffic during Durga Puja. The arrangements will begin on Wednesday (Chaturthi) and continue through the festival.
The city will host 3,319 Durga Pujas within the Kolkata Police jurisdiction, including 247 major crowd-pulling pujas. Additional personnel will be deployed at these venues, with police focusing on crowd circulation and smooth traffic movement. Puja committees have also been asked to deploy adequate volunteers and maintain coordination with the police.
Additional forces have already been deployed at shopping malls and busy markets such as New Market and Gariahat to manage pedestrian movement and vehicular congestion. Police Commissioner Ajay Nand said the surge in pedestrians often slows traffic, particularly when people do not follow signals while crossing roads.
As many as fourteen ambulances will be stationed at strategic locations during the Puja. The nearest ambulance will be dispatched in response to emergency calls received through the Emergency Response
Support System (ERSS).
Nand also highlighted growing traffic pressure on the Maa flyover due to rapid development in New Town. Four-lane traffic from New Town merges into two lanes on the
flyover, causing congestion, particularly when vehicles break down. To address this, multiple cut-outs have been created at 500-metre intervals and wrecker vans will remain on standby to remove stranded vehicles quickly.
The police chief said around six lakh vehicles have been registered in Kolkata over the past three years, adding to the city's traffic pressure.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.