POLICE chief thanks cops, people for peaceful NY

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The City Police Commissioner CH Pratap Reddy on Sunday thanked the police, home guard and civil defence personnel for their hard work during the New Year celebrations in maintaining law and order in the city. He also thanked the people of Bangalore for their cooperation.

Addressing the media persons here, Pratap Reddy said, “The police department had made elaborate arrangements for ensuring a trouble-free New Year celebration. But nothing would have been possible without the cooperation of the public. About 12,000 people including police personnel, home guard, and civil defence personnel worked hard to maintain peace and security throughout the night. I am thanking everyone.” New Year celebrations in the city saw massive crowds thronging in many areas including Brigade Road, Church Street and Koramangala.

A significant number of police forces were also deployed in order to prevent any lawlessness or untoward incident during the revelry.

“Amidst all the celebrations, a swelling crowd, jubilant and joyous, we steadfastly remained on duty, responsible and always alert and maintaining peace and order,” tweeted CK Baba, Deputy Commissioner of police (DCP), Bengaluru South East Division, while sharing visuals of huge crowds from the 5th block of Koramangala. In a handful of areas, the cops had to resort to lathi charges to disperse the raging crowds and take control of the situation.

Clips of cops roughing up the crowds staying out beyond 1 am to have been making rounds on social media. According to reports, in many places police had to use force to disperse the crowd which went out of control. The cops were also on the lookout for drunken drivers in order to minimise cases of any likely mishaps.

A special operation was launched by the traffic police to catch those who were driving after consuming alcohol. Over 78 cases of drunken driving have been registered in a single night. A girl was spotted near Brigade Road holding a board which read ‘Free Hug.’ Several youngsters surrounded her to get a chance to hug them before someone reported the matter to the police.

The women police who immediately reached the spot dispersed the gathered crowd and warned the girl. Earlier on Friday, the City Police Commissioner Reddy had announced that a total of 8,500 police personnel would be deployed within the city limits to maintain law and order on New Year’s night.

“For the New Year in Bengaluru, a total of 8,500 police personnel and officials have been deployed for maintenance of law and order, other than this the entire staff and officials of the traffic division will be on duty,” Reddy had said.

The cops had also highlighted the need to curb noise levels by prescribing a decibel limit with stipulated timings.