The uncertainty over the use of music system during the Kanwad pilgrimage has ended as the State Government has decided to allow the pilgrims to use DJs. Notably, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that his Government is for controlling but not banning the use of the music system during the pilgrimage, a statement that marks a change of tack as the administration had put a ban on it last year. The district administration and police officers said they are now firming up plans to restrict the use of the loudhailers during the Kanwad pilgrimage.
Senior district administrative and police officers said that things have cleared following the CM’s statement made during his visit to Haridwar to attend the innovative summit on Kumbh Mela. last year, the administration had not just banned the music system but sent the Kanwad police officials to neighbouring States like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and NCR to apprise the respective Governments and the pilgrims of the prohibitive order.
The State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said that it was impractical on the part of the administration to ban the use of music system by the Kanwadiyas. “It helps them fight the fatigue that comes upon them as they travel long on the pilgrimage,” he added.
While reviewing the steps being taken in view of the upcoming Kanwad Mela, the CM said that the Government would appeal to the Shiv Bhaktas to keep the volume of the music system low and not to use amplifiers.
Observers say that the decision of the Uttarkahand government on the matter might have been influenced by the stance of the UP Government. “There is no ban on the use of the music system by the Kanwadiyas in the State. The CM Yogi Adityanath has made it clear time and again that his Government would not enforce any ban. Besides, there was also the pressure mounted by the Hindu outfits like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. They have been vociferous against the Haridwar district administration’s regulation of the use of music system during the pilgrimage,” said an observer.
Speaking to The Pioneer, SSP Krishna Kumar V K said on Monday, “All arrangements and security measures for the Kanwad Mela are in place now. Kanwadiyas have already started pouring in from the hills as Shravan month has started. Pilgrims from UP would start coming from July 25. We would request them to keep the volume of the sound system low as per the CM’s instruction.”
However, the residents and some local traders said that the lift of the ban would expose them to the blaring music during the nearly month-long pilgrimage.“The elderly people are the worst affected. Even during the night hours, the music system blares hard on the roads, disturbing sleep. Things turn the worst after Dak Kanwad begins,” said Pushpa Duggal, an octogenarian from Model Colony.
The local traders echoed the same, saying that the volume of such music system is often deafening. Speaking to The Pioneer, Kailash Keshwani, president of Haridwar Vyapar Mandal, said they wondered what was devotional in the rock music blaring hard from the loudspeakers during the Kanwad pilgrimage. “The pilgrimage seems to have been reduced to a kind of entertainment with nothing devotional left in it,” he lamented.