Bhubaneswar: Police on Tuesday asked the puja committees here to deploy adequate volunteers near pandals to control the crowd during the Durga Puja, which will be celebrated next month.

The police also asked the committees to install adequate closed circuit cameras near the pandals during a preparatory meeting held at the commissionerate police headquarters.

The volunteers will be provided with identity cards with their photographs on it. "Adequate traffic personnel will be deployed near the puja pandals for crowd management. The committees have also been asked to allot parking areas near the pandals," said deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo. Representatives of 161 puja committees in and around Bhubaneswar attended the preparatory meeting.

However, most of the committee members raised concern about the bad condition of roads in the city due to the underground cable work. "The condition of roads have worsen so much that commuters are facing difficulties on normal days. The roads are expected to remain busy during the Durja Puja and if the condition of roads is not improved it will definitely lead to traffic chaos," said a member of Rasulgarh puja committee.

However, the police said another meeting in this regard will be held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of the Khurdha district collector.

This apart, the police have decided to start a drive to come down heavily on habitual offenders and execution of pending warrants. The cops have also decided to take stringent action against people demanding forcible donations.

An officer said most habitual offenders hail from Mancheswar, Khandagiri, Saheed Nagar, Laxmi Sagar and Kharvel Nagar.

"Concerned police stations have been asked to prepare a database of criminals in their respective jurisdiction," said a police officer.