Mumbai welcomes New year with 'insecurity'

Mumbai, Dec 31: Residents of Mumbai are welcoming New Year with a new hope. But a sense of insecurity still lies in them. In this regard police in Mumbai have taken all necessary steps to beef up security and residents are being told to be extra vigilant to ensure a safe and sound New Year''s eve celebration.

K L Prasad, Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, said last evening that all precautions have been taken for New Year''s eve following the Nov 26-29 terror attacks in the city.
"Our first priority is to fight terrorism. We have made all the arrangements accordingly so that no untoward incident takes place especially at the crowded places. We want to make an appeal to the people that if they find any suspicious object, then it is their responsibility to immediately inform the police. And if they find any suspicious person they should inform police control room so that we can use our wireless service to provide them immediate help," said Prasad.

Prasad added that CCTV''s have been installed at all necessary places and special care would be taken regarding security of women and children. The celebration at commercial places has been restricted to mid night. An extra 15-20 minutes can be given, but strict action would be taken beyond that. Traffic police have also been put on strict vigil to deal with drunk drivers.
Residents, however, have decided to celebrate while following law and order requirements.

"New Year celebrations this year would definitely be different after the sorrowful incident. We will have a share of enjoyment, but within our limits. And, we won''t be able to have full-fledged enjoyment like we had last year," said Jitendra Gandhi, a resident.

Some residents have made plans to celebrate indoors as they believe going out is not safe anymore. "We won''t be going out and all. It''ll be more at a friend''s place or something. Not going much to discos and all," said Parizaad, another resident.

ANI