This year too, police have failed to rein in the Kanwarias, a section of which tend to break laws with impunity while they stream in the district in their hordes as part of the fortnight-long (from August 1 to 12) Kanwar Teerth Yatra. To keep things in order during the time of the yatra, the administration and police banned over a dozen items. However, all of them are on open display, trampling upon the order.
Police and even CPU, which has earned a name for its ruthlessness in enforcing traffic laws, act as mere spectators as the Kanwarias making a mockery of the orders. It seems, over six thousand personnel deployed in 25 zones and 95 sectors of the mela area to enforce the orders have failed to prove deterrent to the violators of law, to the anger and anguish of the common people, living here.
Notably, before the yatra started, Commissioner Garhwal division CS Napchyal and IG Sanjay Gunjyal jointly reviewed the mela preparations jointly. The officials announced that they have banned several items the Kanwarias might carry with them to keep things in order. Yet, despite it, they are sporting such items freely with the sector magistrates, zonal magistrates, sector or zonal officers and the personnel from police and City Patrol Unit (CPU) seemingly fawning over them.
Among the banned items are all types of arms, wooden and metal sticks longer than three feet, highly audible music system, polythene, smoking items and alcoholic drinks. Besides, there is a ban on the bikers on carrying more than one person as pillion and on vehicles, plying sans proper registrations and number plates. However, the banned items are being seen in abundance with the Kanwarias giving a short shrift to the rules.
Till Monday evening, the number of pilgrims visiting the city stands at 2,14,18,500 as per the official records provided by the Mela in- charge. On Sunday, the figure stood at 1,81,33,500 and that of the vehicles at 8244.
The huge number of the Kanwarias thronging the city has reduced the mela area into the dumping ground. Although portable toilets have been provided by the district administration they are proving grossly insufficient.
Kanwar Mela has stopped the lifeline of the city, disrupting the normal routine of the denizens, said many. The city is being polluted, said KD Mishra, a city- based astrologer. Swati Sharma, a resident, said the music system blaring hard during the day and even continuing into the night is adding to her anxiety and increasing her blood pressure. Vipin Kumar, another resident, said the outsiders are smoking freely. Besides, banned substances are stealing their ways into the mela site, he added.
Bhagwan Das, a manager of one hospice, point out that the figures of the pilgrims and vehicles visiting the city are exaggerated. The residents have been grappling with on- the- road ordeal with traffic over-clogging roads and lanes, leading the flow either coming to a grinding halt or crawling. Many of them are choosing to keep indoors to avoid the hassle on the roads. Rajat Singh of Bhupatwala area, an employee of a private company at SIIDCUl, said that taking lessons from last year when his bike had been damaged by the kanwarias, he has taken two days’ leave. Rickshaws are rarely plying due to the congestion on roads. Diversion of many routes are compounding the woes to the people.