Additional chief secretary Rakesh Sharma has directed officials to complete their preparations for the Ardh Kumbh, Kanwar Mela and disaster management. Chairing a review meet at the Haridwar Roorkee Development Authority hall, the ACS directed officials to prepare a proposal to be sent to the Central Government for keeping the Ardh Kumbh hill bypass road open for 12 months.
He directed the district magistrate HC Semwal and senior superintendent of police Sweety Aggrawal to prepare a proposal for joint check posts of the forest department and district administration on both ends of the hill bypass road from the view point of official formality and security. Sharma further directed the officials to ensure that the laltaro bridge and lalpul bridge are prepared before the month of January next year. Directing officials to ensure that the works to be executed under the Namami Gange mission at Chandighat are completed within six months, he said that these works should be used at the time of the Ardh Kumbh. He also directed the municipal corporation to build one guest house.
Regarding the Kanwar Mela, officials of the Haridwar Roorkee Development Authority were directed to take steps for resolving the problem of budget shortage for works needed to redress shortage of power and water in addition to improving the condition of roads. The development authority will spend a budget of Rs two crore on development works. A sum of Rs 1.25 crore will be spent on works of district administration, Rs 25 lakh by the SSP and Rs 50 lakh by the municipal corporation, apart from which the development authority will itself execute works amounting to Rs three crore. Reviewing the preperations for disaster management tasks, the ACF said that security works should be undertaken in areas prone to water logging. Mock drills should also be held from time to time, he added.
Disaster management secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Garhwal commissioner CS Napalchyal, Mela officer, SA Murugeshan, district magistrate HC Semwal, SSP Sweety Agrawal, SP (Mela) Shweta Chaubey and others were among those present in the meeting.