For Deepavali shoppers, T. Nagar means many things. Clothes. Jewellery. And an array of other items. For the police though, it means only one thing. Tough job. Both the traffic and law and order police have their work cut out for them. They have to preside over traffic and safety arrangements and the job is going to be anything but easy.
The T. Nagar traffic police has over 100 personnel, all of whom will be stationed at important junctions such as the Madely Subway, Duraisamy Subway and Pondy Bazaar. “They will be supported by a contingent of the Home Guards and battalion force. We have also asked for an additional 50 personnel till October 17 and 100 more will join after that to manage the crowd and the traffic. In all, around 300 to 400 personnel will be on Deepavali duty till October 23,” says a senior traffic police official.
Commercial vehicles, lorries and water tankers have been barred from entering the shopping areas from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and route diversions have been implemented around Mambalam and Pondy Bazaar. “Even goods carriers belonging to the shops can only enter after 10 p.m.,” he adds.
To assist the shoppers, the police have identified possible parking areas around T. Nagar. Apart from the private paid parking space, free parking is being allowed inside schools such as Ramakrishna Mission School in Bashyam Road and Dhandapani Street, Saradha Vidhyalaya and Chennai Corporation School on Prakasam Street on holidays. Parking in the schools is meant only for two-wheelers. Corporation parking space for cars has been allotted on G.N. Chetty Road, Prakasam Road, Maharajapuram Santhanam Salai and Venkat Narayana Road.
Certain restrictions will also be imposed on autos and share-autos plying in the area. A diversion in route has been planned for them. “We will also have specific pick-up and drop points for auto and share autos around T. Nagar to help shoppers,” the official said.
Apart from the existing mini control room near Pothys, an additional help desk has been set up near the new Saravana and four public announcement systems have been placed, giving safety instructions to shoppers.
On whether citizen volunteers like Friends of Police have been roped in to help the police, T. Nagar DC office said, “We haven’t yet contacted them. We may approach them, depending on the crowd on Saturday and Sunday.” The police expect two to three lakh footfalls a day during the weekend.
Shoppers such as Vidya are happy with the arrangements. “Getting parking space is the biggest plus. As these are authorised parking lots, we can shop without thinking about our vehicles getting towed,” she says.
