The city’s public attractions teemed with people on New Year amid a sharp rise in Covid cases.
The number of people without masks was considerably lower than what these places witnessed over the Christmas weekend. The police were seen playing a proactive role in trying to enforce the mask mandate, but the sheer number of visitors made enforcement difficult.
There were 3,500 police personnel on the roads on Saturday to manage crowds across the city. Cops used loudhailers and microphones to remind people to wear masks and keep distance from each other.
Alipore zoo saw a footfall of around 53,000, said an official. Christmas saw a similar footfall and on December 26, it soared to 70,000, the highest so far this season.
The ticket counter and the main entrance opposite Taj Bengal hotel had a sea of black heads in front for most of the day. Most faces were covered but many weren’t.
Around 2.45pm, the area outside the tiger enclosure did not have an inch of vacant space. People scrambled for a better view of the big cat and jostled for a spot near the railings.
Many kids on the shoulders of their guardians were without masks.
Cops kept urging visitors through loud hailers to follow the mask mandate.
“It is difficult to maintain social distancing when tens of thousands of people gather in a place. We kept making announcements. Those who violated the protocol even after that were prosecuted,” said an officer of Alipore police station.
Several men who were caught violating the Covid protocol were made to wait for at least 30 minutes before being allowed to enter or leave the zoo.
At the north gate of Victoria Memorial, on Queensway, hundreds of people were waiting to go in around 1pm.
A policewoman spoke through a loudhailer tirelessly, asking people to cover their faces. A stone’s throw away, two persons who were part of a group of six flouted the norm. One of them was without a mask and the other had it hanging from his chin.
A cop tries to manage the crowd outside the Victoria Memorial. Bishwarup Dutta
The cop went straight up to the two and gave them a piece of her mind. “I have a mask. It is suffocating and I was just taking a break,” fumbled one of the violators, before putting it back on.
The footfall at Victoria Memorial was around 28,000, said an official.
The Maidan greens, Indian Museum and Science City also teemed with people.
Visitors in front of the Eco Park ticket counter. Bishwarup Dutta
A guard tells visitors to Nicco Park to wear masks
Once inside many took off the face covering.
At Eco Park, which recorded a footfall of 75,975, fewer people were without masks compared with Christmas.
Nicco Park had a footfall of around 5,000.
“People wore masks in front of the ticket counters and at the gates. Once inside, many took off their face coverings. We had to constantly ask people to wear masks but even that had little effect,” a park official said.