Cops rely on tech for safe fest on Park St – Times of India

Kolkata: A “dynamic” and “tech-driven” plan is what Kolkata Police is looking at to effectively manage the crowd, out on the party street to celebrate Christmas amid a pandemic.
Faced with the unique challenge of hosting Christmas on Park Street and adjoining localities in Covid times and at the same time, controlling hordes of people converging on the zoo, Victoria Memorial and Maidan—where maintaining physical distancing might be difficult, given the number of people expected to turn up— police have divided the stretch from AJC Bose Road to Red Road into multiple zones. Each zone will covered by CCTV cameras and drones. All sergeants will use body cams and backpack cameras for live feeds.
“The strategy will be dynamic and we will keep shifting our focus, depending on where crowd build up. Proper arrangements will be made to tackle all kinds of situations,” said DC (south) Sudheer Kumar Neelakantam. Sources said this would essentially mean that cops at each sub-zone, managed by a DCP, will keep a constant watch on the number of people assembling in their areas. “If it gets unwieldy, we will physically request the revellers to move out. We will use street furniture to channelise the excess crowd to comparatively less-occupied zones. For this reason, we will prepare multiple barricaded channels (not using all of them at the same time) and take instructions from Lalbazar, based on the live feeds from the multiple cameras,” an officer said.
“This is the first major festival that has minimum restrictions and there is no high court directive either. But that cannot be a reason for any laxity. As an administration and law-enforcing agency, we will have to put in our best effort,” said a senior IPS officer. Besides continuous announcements for maintaining distance, there will be prosecutions for anyone not wearing a mask properly. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, too, reminded people to wear masks and maintain social distancing at any cost. At the inauguration of the Park Street festival, she said: “This is an international festival celebrated across the world. We, too, will participate. But because of the pandemic, we need to wear masks and maintain social distancing while celebrating.”
A number of traffic restrictions, in the lines of those in last year, will be imposed from December 24. Park Street is likely to be closed to traffic from 4pm on Christmas Day till next morning—turning it into Walk Street—and there will be a host of curbs on the area on Christmas eve, too, police said on Monday. Vehicles will not be allowed from J L Nehru Road and Middleton Street onto Park Street. Vehicles will be allowed from Wood Street towards Park Circus with diversions in adjoining roads. On Christmas eve, traffic will be allowed only from Chowringhee to Park Circus between 1pm and 1am.
Various organizers of carnivals and fests on the fringes, such as Haridevpur and Thakurpukur, who had sought police permission are still awaiting final clearances that will come from Lalbazar, which have sought time till Tuesday.