The hustle bustle of the kanwar mela came to an end on Sunday with Dak kanwars rushing back to their destinations after taking the holy water from the sanctum sanctorum Har Ki Pauri. Till afternoon it was a mad rush on roads but by the late evening there was a break in the speedy vehicles, most of them having left Haridwar for their destinations.
The last day of kanwar mela Sunday witnessed a deluge of dak kanwarias on bikes and other vehicles reaching the holy city to fetch water from ganga river to be offered at their native Shiva temples. Clad in saffron T’s and shorts, these Hindu devotees could be seen everywhere in the city. In the fortnight long fest if 30 percent kanwarias walked down, 70 percent darted to the sanctum sanctorum in the last three days. Till noon on Sunday, 70 to 80 lakh bikers must have reached Haridwar, say the cops.
An eye witness to the rush, a resident of Govind Puri, said, “I counted 60 bikers in one minute crossing the road leading to Haridwar Roorkee national highway.” It’s a challenge to cross the national highway these days said another commuter. In 24 hours, 15.50 lakh Kanwariyas reached on bikes.
“This time it was total reversal in the influx pattern of kanwarias and the turnout number was far more than expected. Earlier it used to be 70 percent Kanwarias on foot and 30 percent on bikes and heavy vehicles but this time it turned out to be the other way round- 30 percent on foot and 70 percent on vehicles,” SSP Rajeev Swaroop. Capacity of Bairagi camp is to hold 60,000 vehicles and it busted to its seams on Friday and Saturday, with other dweeps like Pant dweep and Chamgadar tapu filling to their capacity as well he added.
Kankhal area was the worst affected where large number of Dak Kanwar vehicles were parked. This also bears testimony to the fact that people have become more comfort conscious, with less pilgrimage on foot and more on vehicles. This increasing trend is not good remarked the SSP. Most of the localites remained confined to homes fearing accidents on roads with rowdy bikers using high decibel sound systems.
Meanwhile several incidents of altercations between the police and the kanwariyas who were trying to enter the city from every possible point were also reported. Barring a few incidents where police was stone pelted on intervening outside Rodh dharamshala where some Kanwariyas were teasing local women and few other small incidents, the mela came to an end peacefully and the police took a sigh of relief for the overall successful mela completion.
Kanwar mela pilgrims have increased phenomenally over the past few years. Taking a glance at the previous years, 50 lakh Kanwariyas visited in 2007, 60 lakhs in 2008 and 75 lakhs in 2009. From the kumbh year 2010 it reached over 1 crore. 2011 reported 1.5 crore, 2012 had 1.75 crores, 2013 had 1.95 crore Kanwariyas come to holy city. In the last two years 2.30 crores and 2.60 crores had visited while this year it was record high, the number crossing 2.64 crore.
For the first time the highway NH-58 was kept open using half for the Knawariyas and the other half for the vehicular traffic says the SSP Haridwar.
Kanwar mela excitement sweeps the localities
Not only the outsiders, even the local people were soaked in kanwar spirit. Ramesh Chandra Panda of an was all gaga over the event. “For the first time I am walking from Har Ki Pauri to Neel kanth mahadev temple starting from my home in Civil lines in Roorkee today to offer holy water in Shiv temple near to my place. I even bought special dress for the occasion.” When asked the reason for his pilgrimage, the young man in his late 30’s said, “I wanted to be part of this Junoon(mad rush). If people are walking 350 miles in these past 10 days, I shall also try for 40 miles.
I want to build up my capabilities undertaking this padyatra. We hardly utilize 10 percent of our capabilities.” Many other such Ramesh are enthusiastic to be part of the pilgrimage. Sudesh Talwar packed her water bottle along with some nuts to undertake the 10 km pilgrimage from Har Ki Pauri to Shivalik Nagar.