PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Haridwar
The holy city of Haridwar witnessed a surge of faith during the final stretch of the Sawan month, with the streets hued in saffron. While the Haridwar district administration’s preparations for the Kanwad Mela, along with the police’s security and traffic arrangements, are being appreciated, some say that the city at several locations experienced traffic logjams due to the massive movement of two-wheelers along the stretch from Om Bridge to Haripur Kala.
On Monday, too, a large number of Kanwadiyas were seen heading towards their destinations on the highway as well as on alternative and inner routes. The crowds caused traffic jams at many locations, but the administration and police continued to maintain traffic movement despite the challenges from the surging crowd.
The district administration sources said that under the direction of the district magistrate Mayur Dixit, coordination among various departments on traffic management, cleanliness, drinking water, health services, and basic amenities along the Kanwad routes are being continuously monitored. Police said that led by the SSP, Navneet Singh Bhullar, they are focused on crowd control, traffic management, deployment of police forces at sensitive locations, route diversions and security arrangements. The constant field presence of police officers and personnel helped manage the situation despite the large crowds, observers said, adding that last year’s experiences seemed to have helped the administration and police learn lessons.
Learning from these experiences, this time special attention was paid to pre-identifying areas with potential crowd pressure, route diversions, barricading, police deployment and traffic control. Continuous monitoring was conducted to control crowds and vehicles in accident-prone areas.
Hailing the arrangements, the president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, Ravindra Puri said that he had not seen any disorder during his daily mela visit.
