The city was awash with celebrations and festive euphoria as revellers ushered in the New Year in style. Even as the star hotels and beach-side destinations lit up the evening with invigorating music and unlimited food, the beach-side venues remained crowd-pullers on the New Year eve.
The nip in the air added to the fun as revellers gathered at RK Beach and Rushikonda to celebrate as the New Year rang in. Standalone restaurants and bakeries made brisk business with special offerings.
Such was the demand that many of the eateries had long queues and special staff to handle the customers. Meanwhile, orders in food delivery apps peaked as the night progressed and delivery boys sprung into action to meet the demand.
At The Park, Hotel Palm Beach and Vihar in Rushikonda dance performances by artistes from India and abroad, DJ music, fashion shows and fun games marked the celebrations. Hotel Novotel had multiple New Year’s eve parties happening at different spots within the premises.
However, some people preferred to host house parties with their near and dear ones.
They came down to the Beach Road later in the night to greet everyone. Meanwhile, the New Year greetings flooded almost all the social media platforms and messaging apps from Monday morning itself with the users expecting the cellular networks to be hit by the midnight.
Temples in the city also saw a good rush from the late hours of the day which went on till the wee hours of Tuesday.
Strict vigil
Despite adequate preparations made by the police and closing down of the Beach Road, most of the roads leading to the beach was choc-o-block, since 8 p.m.
The police took measures to check driving under the influence of alcohol.
About 50 special teams with alcometer and body-worn cameras were deployed at strategic points to check driving under the influence of alcohol and rash driving.