To lay emaphsis on crowd management Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat convened a reveiew meeting on Kanwad Mela at the secretariat on Wednesday. In view huge footfall expected, Chief Minister has stressed on extending the Kumbh Mela area up to Chandi bridge. For this the officials were directed to deliberate with Akhadas and members of religious fraternity too.
He instructed the Public Works Department and police to conduct a survey on how to develop a ring road by linking NH-74 and NH-58 near Najibabad-Bijnor. A consultant should be hired to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for this. In view of pressure on Har ki Paidi he asked them to develop Kagdaghat.
For this, officials were told to prepare an Act for Kumbh Mela for Uttarakhand with the department concerned also being told to present its suggestions after studying the other states’ Kumbh Act. Urban development Minister Madan Kaushik said that Kumbh Mela is known globally so no stone should be left unturned for the upcoming Kumbh Mela.
During meeting chief secretary, adtional chief secretary, other department secretaries and heads of departments shared their views. The Haridwar DM and Mela officer Deepak Rawat suggested that to conduct Kumbh Mela professionally state needs to create permanent institution and arrange for personnel and appoint additional law officers too.
CM asked officials to identify land for the ISBT at Haridwar and to do underground cabling and lighting of Haridwar city to give a heritage look. He also asked the Haridwar DM to ensure that Bairagi camp and Tibri are encroachment -free. He also reviewed other departments’ preparation for Kanwad Mela.
He asked officials to make arrangements for electricity, water and toilets in next two to three days because Kanwad Mela is going to being by July 10. He told them that for the first time government has dedicated Rs 50 lakh for Kanwad Mela initially.
Kaushik apprised that this year the state expects 2.5 crore Kanwad pilgrims. He said that 44 kilometre long canal track is in the possession of Uttarkahand and 200 kilometre is in the possession of Uttar Pradesh.
The meeting was attended by chief secretary S Ramaswamy, additional chief secretary Omprakash, principal secretary Anand Vardhan, DGP MA Ganapathy, secretaries D Senthil Pandian, Radhika Jha, Garhwal commissioner Vinod Sharma, ADG RS Meena, DIG Garhwal Pushpak Jyoti and others.