A view of the illuminated Beach Road stretch in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU
In view of New Year’s eve celebrations on the Beach Road stretch, the City Police have decided not to allow vehicles between NTR Statue Junction to The Park Hotel Junction from December 31, 8 p.m. to January 1, 5 a.m.
Similarly, the middle lane on the entire BRTS Road stretch from Hanumanthawaka to Adavivaram, Gosala Junction to Vepagunta Junction, Pendurthi to Convent Junction via NAD Junction will be closed during the same timings. Emergency vehicles should use the service roads. Similarly, the Telugu Thalli flyover will also be closed till 5 a.m. on January 1.
Ahead of New Year’s eve celebrations, the city police issued road restrictions on Thursday. The city police said that the middle road between Maddilapalem to Rama Talkies will be closed from 10 p.m. on December 31 to 5 a.m. on January 1.
Commissioner of Police Shankhabrata Bagchi said that the entire Beach Road stretch would be brought under a security blanket. He said that people attempting to invade the privacy of women on the pretext of wishing them New Year would be dealt with strictly. A number of ‘She-Teams’ would be deployed along the stretch to protect women and keep a check on eve-teasers and such trouble-mongers, the Commissioner said.
He also said firecrackers usage and swimming at sea was also prohibited.
He said that drones would be deployed to monitor the crowd on the Beach Road stretch. He also appealed the public to use designated parking spots to park their vehicles and then reach the Beach Road.
Drunken driving
Mr. Bagchi also said that a number of traffic police teams would conduct drunken drive checkings at various places from December 31 evening to January 1 morning. He said that vehicles of those driving under the influence of alcohol would be seized and they need to appear in the courts for further process. During this 2024, as many as 267 persons were jailed for drunken driving and four persons were asked to perform community servicing.
The Commissioner of Police said that police will be deployed to every junction in the city. People found consuming liquor openly, driving vehicles in overspeed, involved in dangerous driving, triple-riding, no-helmet driving and creating nuisance on the roads will be booked. Their vehicles may be seized, while the driving licences may be suspended over a period of time, he stated.
Published – December 26, 2024 10:53 pm IST
