Police have concluded that Park Street saw an unexpected surge in crowd on Christmas evening because people who had been to the Victoria Memorial and Alipore zoo earlier in the day came over to see the festive lights once those venues closed.
The police brass are worried that there could be a repeat of the Christmas chaos and Covid dare on the night of December 31 and January 1.
A Calcutta High Court division bench of Justices Sanjib Banerjee and Arijit Banerjee on Tuesday passed an order instructing the state chief secretary and the home secretary to prevent crowding during the year-end celebrations.
Like during Durga Puja and other festivals, when a similar order of the high court was in force to prevent a spike in the number of Covid cases, the onus of implementing the order would be on the police.
Cops who were posted on Park Street on Christmas said the people who visited the road were not the usual Christmas crowd. “They were not there to celebrate the festival. They were general revellers who wanted to spend more time outdoors,” said an officer.
That was the reason, the police on the ground reported, the crowd thinned in about two hours, because their destinations were not the pubs and eateries in the party zone.
New Year’s Eve poses a greater challenge to the police as officers apprehend that even before this crowd thins, there would be another surge of people who would be keen to join the traditional year-end festivities that continue past midnight.
Police officers have calculated that the sudden surge of visitors on Park Street started on Christmas evening within half an hour the Alipore zoo and the Victoria Memorial closed for the day. Both close at 5pm. Park Street had started crowding from 5.30pm.
“So many people walked to Park Street all of a sudden that we had no option but to close the road to vehicles. Else there would have been accidents,” said an officer who was on duty on Park Street on Christmas evening.
This time, apprehending an even larger turnout, there is instruction from Lalbazar not to close Park Street to vehicles during the year-end festivities, unless there is an emergency, police sources said.
There will be walking channels on either side of the road to ensure pedestrians do not spill on the thoroughfare. The biggest challenge will be to manage pedestrians and vehicles simultaneously.
On Christmas evening, the closure of Park Street to vehicles caused huge snarls on AJC Bose Road, Red Road, Chowringhee Road, Central Avenue, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Park Circus seven-point crossing and APC Road.
“We will have a larger deployment on Park Street on New Year Eve to ensure that people keep moving. We have no plans to close Park Street to vehicles unless there is an emergency,” said an officer of the traffic department.
“On New Year Eve, usually there is a continuous stream of different types of visitors to Park Street. There are people who reach early in the evening and leave early. Another section that comes to dine usually leaves before Park Street starts crowding with late-night revellers. The third kind are those who enjoy their evenings at private parties elsewhere and head to Park Street only after 11pm,” said an officer in the south division.
Park Street, between Chowringhee Road crossing and the Wood Street intersection, will be divided into multiple zones and each will be under the supervision of an officer of the rank of deputy commissioner on the 31st night.
