Though more than one crore Kanwadias reached Haridwar during the Kanwad Mela this year, the Rajaji national park administration succeeded in preventing major disturbance to the wildlife from this activity. This year, the national park authorities did not permit any community kitchen to be set up along the seven kilometres stretch of the route to Neelkanth Mahadev temple that passes through the national park.
Rajaji field director SP Subudhi said that he had informed the State Forest minister that with the final notification for Rajaji national park being issued and efforts underway to convert it into a tiger reserve, it would not be possible to permit the setting up of any community kitchen in the national park for the Kanwad Mela.
"We had posted one team each equipped with a jeep and equipment in Gohri and Chilla ranges to prevent any anomalies during the Kanwad season apart from which a team of eight locals was also posted on the trek to Neelkanth Mahadev temple. With the cooperation of the district administration and police, this year the Kanwadias have caused comparatively lesser disturbance to the wildlife as I have not received any complaint regarding them so far," he added.
It should be mentioned here that about seven kilometres of the pedestrian route to the Neelkanth temple passes through the Gohri range of Rajaji. The area is frequented by elephants and is also known to host tigers apart from other wildlife. Many lakhs of Kanwadias, mostly from outside Uttarakhand, visit the shrine every year during the Shravan month- most of them being unfamiliar with the surroundings and situations here. The advent of the Kanwadias is also associated with disturbance not only for local residents but also for the wildlife and environment.