The two- week long mega religio-cultural event is not just a litmus test to the police and the district administration, now engaged in handling the never- ending stream of Kanwad pilgrims, but is a challenge for the big manufacturers who are facing problems in bringing raw materials to their plants to ensure uninterrupted production process. The biggest jolt came on Thursday night when UP police stopped the movement of heavy vehicles from Muzaffarnagar. However, things eased as traffic turned normal on Friday.
Despite Haridwar police issuing a written circular saying that trucks would be allowed to move on the highways between 10 pm to 4 am during the Kanwad Mela the sudden closure of the highway by UP police for the heavy vehicles on Thursday landed many, including the manufactures, in problem. Inconvenienced, the industrialists from SIIDCUl approached the SSP Haridwar, resulting in the resumption of the night traffic from Friday.
The chairman of SIIDCUl Manufacturers Association, Harendra Garg said, “Since the morning, I received several phone calls, complaining about the chaos unleashed by the sudden stoppage of the vehicles. One truck coming to Haridwar was returned from Ghaziabad and another was routed to Uttar Pradesh. They did not reach Haridwar. This adversely affected our production.”
Speaking of the matter, SSP Haridwar Krishna Kumar V K said, “UP police stopping the movement of the trucks on the highway on Thursday in view of the rush of the Kanwadias caused problems. But from today, trucks would run on the highway during the night hours as scheduled earlier. However, after July 15, we would review things, keeping in view the condition of the traffic.”