'Every cop will be on the road on Dec 31'

To keep a check on instances of molestation and drink driving, and to guard against terror threats, the Mumbai police will deploy an unprecedented number staff on the roads during the New Year Eve.

To keep a check on instances of molestation and drink driving, and to guard against terror threats, the Mumbai police will deploy an unprecedented number staff on the roads during the New Year Eve.

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Fresh instructions are slated to be dispatched on Thursday from the commissionerate to all police stations, as well as ancillary and subsidiary units of the Mumbai police in this regard. "Every officer in the force, from the commissioner to constables, will be on the streets from 8pm to 2am on December 31," highly placed sources in the Mumbai police told HT on Wednesday.

"Fresh instructions are being prepared for police stations," confirmed Nisar Tamboli, Mumbai police spokesperson. Tamboli also said that the scale of deployment this year will surpass the figures in the previous years "in view of the demands and urgency of the situation".

Sources said that police stations will be specifically directed to deploy nakabandis (security checkpoints) in their respective localities, instead of the sporadic nakabandis in the past.

Tamboli said extra force would be deployed at popular beachfronts and places of religious importance, where a large number of people flock during the New Year Eve. He said barricades would be put at the Gateway of India and at Girgaum and Juhu Chowpatty to segregate families and women from groups of men. Watch towers and CCTV cameras will also be installed.

"Eve teasers and rowdies will be dealt with with maximum force," Tamboli said, adding that surprise and anti-sabotage checks would also be conducted by commando units.