As state prepares to ring in New Year, govt deploys 3,000 cops in key areas

Panaji/Margao: More than 3,000 police personnel, including North and South district police personnel and the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn) personnel, will be deployed in Goa on the last day of 2025 to avoid any inconvenience for locals and tourists for New Year celebrations. Goa police will conduct nakabandi at 100 locations and increase surveillance on Dec 31, DGP Alok Kumar said. He said that nakabandi and police presence are not to create fear in the minds of tourists and locals, but to take action against drunken driving and hooliganism.

“We will not unnecessarily harass anyone, but it is necessary to take action against hooliganism,” Kumar said.

Kumar said that, besides North and South Goa Police personnel, an additional 700 personnel of IRBn were deployed. “We have additional forces that were deployed, and both North and South Goa Police personnel will be deployed on Dec 31 evening to make their presence felt on the road to avoid any untoward incident,” Kumar said.




The DGP said that tourist police, coastal security police, anti-terror squad and bomb disposal squad were also deployed. “We have directed the control room to keep watch on all the incidents and the flow of information so that police action is quick,” Kumar said.

The DGP said that since many tourists visit the state and Goa police gave special attention to traffic management by deploying additional personnel. With the peak tourist season, the frequency of tourist vehicles entering the coastal belt surged many folds and congested the internal roads in Calangute.

To decongest the village roads and to facilitate the smooth flow of vehicular traffic, causing the least inconvenience to commuters and locals, traffic police have designed a plan for New Year’s day.

Police said that traffic arrangements will be made at all places in Goa on New Year’s day across the state where high footfall are expected.

South Goa SP Tikam Singh Verma said that apart from increasing police presence on the ground, the focus will be on preventive policing. Directions have been given to the personnel to act against anti-social elements, he said.

“Organisers of New Year parties have been directed to strictly adhere to the timelines. Violation will be dealt with strictly,” Verma said. Also, venues for New Year parties have been directed to ensure that adequate fire safety and emergency response measures are put in place, he said.

Police said that motorists travelling in the state are requested to drive or ride responsibly, follow traffic rules, use helmets while riding, not drive dangerously, not use a mobile phone while driving, avoid drunk driving, maintain lane discipline, and, most importantly, park in designated parking lots and not park haphazardly on the carriageway, causing inconvenience to other road users and locals. Those violating traffic rules will be dealt with as per law.

“All tourists and locals are requested to follow the temporary traffic circulation plan and cooperate with traffic police to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic and avoid unnecessary congestion during the festive time of the year,” police said. “In case of any traffic congestion noted, or any traffic-related emergency, the general public are requested to contact the following traffic officers to resolve the issue.”