Additional police personnel, parking at Kartaviya Path to manage footfall

Anticipating surge in footfall at Kartvaya Path here in view of New Year celebrations, local authorities will deploy additional police personnel and have created multiple parking sites to manage crowd

Anticipating a surge in footfall at Kartvaya Path here in view of the New Year celebrations, the local authorities will deploy additional police personnel and have created multiple parking sites to manage the crowd.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Friday said all the arrangements have been made ahead of time to ensure that people can enjoy the New Year safely and the crowd does not pose any security problems.

According to officials, Delhi Traffic Police has made elaborate arrangements at and around India Gate to regulate traffic -- both vehicular and pedestrian.

In case of heavy pedestrian movement, vehicles may not be allowed to enter the C-Hexagon and India Gate area and diverted, the traffic police said in an advisory.

Visitors are advised to use public transport as there is a shortage of parking space at India Gate, it said.

"The number of people visiting Kartavya Path has increased. We have increased the deployment of officials from the health department, enforcement and civil defence volunteers at the C-Hexagon and in the nearby areas of Kartavya Path," NDMC vice-chairman Satish Upadhyay said.

The NDMC has created multiple parking sites with a capacity of 1,117 cars and 40 buses around Kartavya Path and surrounding areas. These parking sites are located between Janpath and Rafi Marg (space for 500 cars), C-Hexagon and Man Singh Road (space for 200 cars), and Man Singh Road and Janpath (space for over 400 cars).

The 3-km-long Kartavya Path, earlier Rajpath, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8. It was thrown open to the public on September 9.

Special Commissioner of Police (law and order) Deependra Pathak said, "Police have made adequate security arrangements."

A senior police officer said, "There will be extra deployment of police personnel and paramilitary forces at Kartavya Path. There will be intensive patrolling and extra pickets will also be set up for crowd management."

On Thursday, Delhi Police said more than 18,000 of its personnel from district and traffic units will be deployed across the national capital to ensure security during the New Year celebrations.

Traffic will be restricted at Connaught Place from 8 pm on Saturday and alcometers will be used to check drunk driving.