Fort Kochi’s New Year festivities to prioritise safety
KOCHI: To ensure smooth New Year celebrations, police have made special security arrangements at Fort Kochi on Tuesday. As many as 1,000 police personnel will be deployed at Veli ground where the effigy of Pappanji will be torched as part of the New Year celebration.
Kochi City Police Commissioner Putta Vimaladithya said that the 1,000 police officers deployed in Fort Kochi include 12 DySPs, 26 circle inspectors, 198 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors.
“We have made an elaborate arrangement at Fort Kochi area as part of the New Year celebration. There are also traffic regulations at Fort Kochi. We have identified 18 grounds where people arriving for the celebration can park their vehicles in Fort Kochi,” Vimaladithya said.
"Once these grounds are fully occupied, the vehicles will be allowed to park at grounds identified under Thopumpady and Palluruthy police station limits. Once all these grounds are filled, we would not divert vehicles from Thopumpady BOT bridge and would not allow entry of vehicles,” Vimaladithya added.
At Veli ground, CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor the crowd. The ground will be barricaded to prevent any untoward incident. Also, the place where Pappanji will be torched is barricaded. Special lights are installed as part of the security arrangement. KSEB officials, Fire Force units and medical teams will be present at the Veli ground. Coastal Police and Marine Ambulance will be present at the beachside.
When it comes to other parts of the city, the Commissioner said that the entire police force will be mobilised for security activities. “There will be checks on roads to prevent drunk driving. DANSAF units will be monitoring drug peddlers. Also to ensure the safety of women, we have deployed women police officers. There are also policemen in plain clothes as part of surveillance activities,” he said.
Plan your trips
Water Transport Department
No boats to Fort Kochi or back after 7 pm on December 31. Services will resume at 6 am on January 1.
Water Metro
To conduct services in the High Court-Fort Kochi section at an interval of 10 minutes from December 31 afternoon till 7 pm.
Services to Fort Kochi to be suspended at 7 pm on December 31. However, services in the Vypeen-High Court section will be operated throughout the night based on commuter demand. The services will be available at a gap of below 10 minutes from 11.30 pm. The trips will be operated till 4.30 am on January 1 or till the commuter demand ends.
Kochi Metro
To operate additional metro train services during the evenings till January 4.
On December 31, trains will operate services even after 10.30 pm. The services from Tripunithura to Aluva and back will be conducted at an interval of 20 minutes till early morning.
The last service from Tripunithura to Aluva is at 1.30 am (Wednesday) and that from Aluva to Tripunithura is at 1.45 pm.
Private buses
Private buses to Fort Kochi and Mattancherry to short-terminate trips at Thoppumpady by 4 pm.
MVD Directive to Bars to prevent drunk driving
KOCHI: To prevent drunk driving incidents during New Year festivities in the city, the motor vehicles department has issued an advisory to bar hotels. As per the instructions, hotels that serve liquor should provide drivers or tie up with designated driver services to assist intoxicated customers going out of bars.
Clear communication should be passed on to the customers to make use of these services or should advertise the information properly in clear view. In case any customers flout the instructions, authorities must be promptly notified. Records of the services and customer acknowledgements should be preserved for verification by the authorities in the future. The RTO also informed that non-compliance with these provisions will invite legal actions under the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 and other applicable laws.