AGARTALA, Oct 19 (TIWN): Crowd and traffic control during Durga Puja in the added areas of Agartala – where there’s been a phenomenal rise in number of mega-budget pujas – is turning into a bigger challenge every year for state police.As many as 2,000 personnel will be posted across the city along with home guards. Traffic will be barred on many roads from 6 PM to 1 AM from Saptami till Dashimi.Traffic police has also drawn up specific traffic regulations in some streets.

A few hundred constables and over 400 trainee traffic sergeants will be the additional forces on the road on all Puja days. “Most of the divisions and the traffic wing have increased their staff strength. This extra force will be deployed in the added areas where roadspace is restricted. In addition, we are hopeful of taking the number of CCTV cameras  to cover all the major crossings of the added areas,” said SP - Traffic . Smrithi Ranjan Das.

The added areas spread over 10 sq km and include 4 police stations. Unlike other years, this time the full police bandobast will begin on Panchami itself.

“Each police station will have eight to 3 sub-inspectors plus a lady SI – e previous set-up – plus 5 ASIs and nearly 40 constables,” said an officer. There are at least 18 big pujas in this new area and over 1,000 medium-scale pujas. Additional manpower has been sought from the state police but top officers have been asked to prepare their plan with existing resources.

NCC cadets, scouts,  and  civil defense  will be used for managing crowds at pandals, said sources.