Traffic advisory issued ahead of New Year celebrations in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Ahead of New Year celebrations in Hyderabad, the city traffic police have issued guidelines and traffic advisory for December 31 New Year celebrations that are going to take place in the city limits.

Certain main roads will be closed and the police have requested citizens to plan accordingly. The Nehru Ring Road will be closed from 10 pm to 5 am for light motor vehicles.

However, vehicles that will be going to the airport will be allowed to proceed. PVNR Express Way will also be closed from 11 pm to 5 am except for those going towards the airport.

The Police have also ordered to shut down some of the flyovers for the pedestrians and motorists in the city which include Shilpa Layout flyover, Gachibowli flyover, Biodiversity flyovers 1 and 2, Mindspace flyover, Road No 45 flyover, Durgam Cheruvu Cable bridge, Cyber Tower flyover, Forum –JNTU flyover, Khaithlapur flyover and Babu Jagjivan Ram flyover.

As the countdown to welcome New Year-2023 begins, Hyderabadis are gearing up to ring in the New Year with a bang of josh and hope. Hotels, clubs, pubs, resorts and other event organising venues have amped up for the weekend party and are welcoming 2023 with special sets, DJs, renowned artists, celebrities and decorations, while minding the police guidelines. Cops in all the tri-Commissionerates will be maintaining a tight vigil and will also ensure the celebration of a 'Drug Free New Year revelry'.

As New Year celebrations go incomplete without a rocking party, the cops have allowed the celebrations to go on till 1 am. According to party organisers, the police has permitted hotels, pubs and restaurants to remain open till 1 am.

"Now, we have enough time to organise the celebrations. We have already obtained the permission for the event and have ensured that all the guidelines are being followed," said an executive member of the events association. During the process of obtaining permission, questions regarding the location, number of visitors at the event, security, bouncers are being asked.

The organisers are also asked to ensure that minors do not attend the event and have also set up CCTV cameras at the location in order to assure surveillance as per the police orders. Resort and pub owners have decided to hold celebrations in a bigger way as they are expecting huge crowds this year. Several owners suffered huge losses in their business during the pandemic.

"Thankfully, this year we have an opportunity to recover the losses," said Krishnaraj, a manager at a resort located in the city outskirts. There are several pubs and clubs around the city who are hosting the New Year bash including Novotel, Prizm, Amnesia, Insomnia and several resorts in the City outskirts.

Several stadiums, conventions and amusement parks are also hosting the celebrations with DJs, renowned singers and celebrities. Along with pubs, clubs and hotels, there is also an increasing demand in renting guest houses and farmhouses, particularly in Moinabad, Chevella, Shamshabad, and Shamirpet. Most of them have already been booked, even as the owners have doubled their rental rates on the eve of New Year. To prevent the consumption of drugs during the celebrations, the police has also intensified special drives to find and arrest drug offenders. They warned people to stay away from drugs.

Meanwhile, the top cops of the three police Commissionerate of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda met with owners of farmhouses, resorts, and pubs ahead of New Year's celebrations. "The heads of the tri-Commissionerate have conducted meetings with the owners of various pubs, bars, farmhouses, resorts, and guest houses that fall under their jurisdiction and have given them the guidelines to follow.

Anyone found breaking the rules will be prosecuted," said a senior police officer. Moreover, special teams will be keeping a watch on the movement of drug offenders. Technical surveillance and physical surveillance will keep tabs on the drug offenders who were arrested in previous cases. Social media and cybercrime units will help the enforcement wings of the police to break through the networks and arrest peddlers," said a senior police officer.