The long weekend with snans on the occasions of Baisakhi and Somvati Amavasya apart from Ambedkar Jayanti commemoration began with the Baisakhi snan in the Ganga here on Friday amidst ample security measures made by the district authorities. On Friday thousands of people took the holy dip at Har Ki Paidi. Though traffic was normal, route diversions are planned for the Sankranti and Amavasya snan which shall make the commuters cover extra miles to reach their destination.
In the morning hours the traffic flow was normal but as the day progressed towards late evening, vehicular traffic increased. Route diversions for vehicles being plied from Dehradun to Delhi are planned for the next two days. The light vehicles coming from Delhi will be routed through Faloda Khanpur rather than normal route of Narsen traversing through Pherupur. The vehicles shall have to cover about 25 kilometres extra while incoming to Haridwar or going out of Haridwar.
The vehicles coming via Najibabad to Haridwar shall be made to park in Gaurishankar and Neeldhara parking while returning they will be routed through Chandi Ghat to Najibabad highway.
Speaking to The Pioneer, senior superintendent of police Krishna Kumar VK said, “It was just a normal day on Baisakhi but we are anticipating heavy rush from Friday evening for the next three days on account to Somvati Amavasya snan for which adequate security measures have been taken.”
The officials were directed to take necessary measures to maintain law and order in the area. They were directed to keep the closed circuit television cameras operational in sensitive areas of Har ki Paidi, Kharkhari, railway station and Rodi Belwala. Four teams of water police and divers were deployed.
A total of of 130 sub inspectors, 28 police station in charge, 35 lady SIs, 55 head constables, 547 constables, 145 lady constables, 13 traffic police constables, two traffic police sub inspectors along with personnel of PAC and paramilitary forces had been deployed in the mela zone. Besides this, two Bomb Disposal Squads and dog squad had also been arranged in case of emergency.
Whole of the mela zone was divided into 14 zones and 41 sectors and security personnel were deputed at the sensitive areas and major crossings.