Bhubaneswar, May 10: Police are planning to rope in traffic volunteers and members of youth clubs to manage vehicle flow in the city on the day they would be busy with transportation of the sacred wood of Lord Jagannath.

The cops will be deployed to manage traffic on the national highway connecting Bhubaneswar to Cuttack as devotees in large number are expected to choke the highway during the time the sacred wood crosses the city stretch.

The police are planning to draft in around 150 assistants, including 80 selected under traffic volunteer scheme launched last month.

The daru (sacred wood) of Lord Jagannath is expected to reach the city either on May 13 or 14. On that day, the volunteers will take control of various traffic posts in the city with most cops deployed on the national highway.

The police said three organisations had approached them to provide volunteers on that day. Besides, a few local youth clubs have also come forward to help the police.

"We will make elaborate plans to regulate the traffic on the national highway and the city. Heavy vehicles would be diverted through Pitapalli to ease the traffic and additional police personnel would be deployed on that day," said police commissioner R.P. Sharma.

While around 200 traffic personnel were deployed to regulate the traffic during the transportation of the daru of Goddess Subhadra on Friday, volunteers manned several traffic posts in the city during that time. The volunteers also managed vehicular movement on Janpath, which is among the busiest roads in the city.

"It was really tough because the traffic was heavy in the evening but we tried our best to ensure the least amount of jams. We are looking forward to the day when the cart carrying the daru of Lord Jagannath crosses the city," said Saroj, a traffic volunteer.

Traffic chaos reigned when the daru of Lord Balabhadra crossed the city because the police were not prepared enough. Several vehicles, including school buses, remained stranded on the road for hours.