The crowd of revellers on Brigade Road ushering in the New Year late on Monday night.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
As the final moments of 2024 ticked away, the bustling streets of M.G. Road, Church Street, and Brigade Road erupted into a vibrant frenzy. When the clock struck midnight, a chorus of cheers filled the air as the city embraced the arrival of 2025.
The city’s skyline shimmered with a dazzling array of lights, and festive decorations cast a magical glow over the revellers who spilled onto the streets. The excitement began to build gradually around 6 p.m. in the Central Business District area, with crowds gathering slowly. While the pubs saw bookings, business improved at the local bars after 9 p.m.
‘Business dull’
C.V. Vinod, owner of Bengaluru Bar, said, “Business was dull all day, but it picked up after 9 p.m. Compared to last year, overall business was dull.” He added that Church Street also saw fewer crowds than last year, which affected business, although footfall improved after 10 p.m.
Antony S., a college student, said he was visiting the Brigade Road celebration for the first time. Sharanya R. said it is always fun to revel in the CBD, as the crowd is lively.
Suhail Yusuf, secretary of The Brigade Shop and Establishments Association, said Brigade Road saw a family crowd, and the business was ok. “Last week, business fell by 50% after Bengaluru Traffic Police restricted parking owing to Christmas festivities. Parking resumed on Sunday. Compared to the previous year, business is lower,” he added.
A large crowd
Despite the police efforts to cordon off the entire stretch with barricades, guiding the flow of foot traffic, the crowds were overwhelming. People surged forward, pushing past one another. Some even leapt over the barricades and were caned by the police.
The area was swarming with police, volunteers, and security personnel. Drones hovered, and metal detectors scanned the crowd to ensure safety. While the celebrations were largely peaceful, an inebriated man who argued with police to go against the one-way on Brigade Toad was detained. In another incident, the Rani Chennamma all-women’s squad traced a baby who had been lost in the crowd for some time and reunited it with its mother.
Whistle, full face mask banned
Hours before New Year celebrations kicked off in Bengaluru, City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda advised revellers to refrain from using whistles and full-face masks, citing law and order concerns.
“The decision was taken following a few stray incidents from the previous year when the overuse of whistles caused chaos, drowning out public announcements and emergency warnings. The full-face masks were flagged as a security risk, with some people using them to conceal their identities while being involved in anti-social activities. Some anti-social elements may use this to take advantage and be involved in eve-teasing, harassment and public nuisance, and hence it has been decided to ban them,” he said.
Mr. Dayananda said that as many as 11,830 police personnel, along with 93 platoons of KSRP and CAR, were deployed to ensure law and order in the CBD area and other parts of the city where large congregations were expected for New Year celebrations.
Tattoo artiste arrested
Meanwhile, officials of the Anti Narcotics Wing of the Central Crime Branch in Bengaluru busted an international drug racket and arrested a 30-year-old tattoo artiste for allegedly peddling drugs for the upcoming New Year celebrations.
The police have recovered 3.5 kg of hydro ganja, 16 kg of marijuana, 40 LSD strips, 130 grams of charas and 2.3 grams of MDMA crystals — worth a total of ₹2.5 crore — from him. The accused, identified as Rakshith Ramesh, was operating from his apartment in Chokkanahalli and supplied the drugs concealed in cake and biscuit packs to his clients to avoid undue attention.
The probe revealed that the accused used to source the drugs from their contacts in Thailand and get the consignment in ships to Chennai concealed in snack packets, a senior police official said.
Shop selling firecrackers raided
Women protection wing officials of the Central crime branch on Tuesday raided a shop for selling firecrackers illegally in the basement of a building near Binny Mills canteen and seized firecrackers boxes worth around ₹2 lakh. Two people present in the shop were detained for further questioning. The shop did not have required permission to store and sell the crackers and was endangering the safety of the people , a police officer, said.
Published – January 01, 2025 12:31 am IST
