Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday appealed to the committees associated with religious events, including Durga puja, to fully comply with the electrical and fire safety standards in the construction of puja pandals.
Giving this information here on Monday, an official spokesman said that the chief minister said that the administration should ensure compliance with electrical and fire safety standards in the puja pandals by communicating with the organising committees.
The chief minister said that some incidents/accidents that happened recently in puja pandals should be taken seriously and for this it was necessary that a comprehensive awareness programme was conducted regarding electrical and fire safety.
He said the safety of the devotees visiting the puja pandals should be the topmost priority.
Guidelines have been issued following a massive fire that broke out in a puja pandal in Bhadohi claiming five lives and leaving over five dozen others injured.
Yogi Adityanath earlier also took cognisance of the tractor-trolley accidents and directed officials to ban them for carrying passengers.
An official communal said that on the direction of the chief minister, a special campaign would be run on the roads of UP for the next 10 days during which, if someone is seen riding on a goods vehicle, he will be fined Rs 10,000.
If someone violates the traffic rules then information can be communicated on phone numbers 0522-2390468 and 9454402555.
The chief minister has appealed to the people to strictly follow the safety standards during the journey. He said that traveling by tractor-trolley and truck was unsafe therefore under no circumstances should a tractor-trolley or truck be used for the journey.
The chief minister was holding a high-level meeting of the Transport and Home Department regarding road safety at his official residence on Sunday, before leaving for Kanpur Nagar to offer condolences to the victims of two road accidents in Kanpur Nagar and to enquire about the well-being of the injured.
He said that tractor-trolleys should be used only for agricultural work or freight transportation. He said keeping this in mind people should adopt only safe means for the safe journey of themselves and their families.
The chief minister has directed officials to conduct special awareness campaigns in rural areas in view of road safety. He said that by holding meetings in each gram panchayat, the police and the Transport Department should sensitise the general public to adopt safe transport means. He said hoardings should be put up by the Information, Public Works and Transport departments at prominent places for awareness in this regard.
The chief minister directed the officials to expedite the enforcement works keeping in view road safety and with Transport and police departments playing a special role in it.
HE said the cooperation of the public should be taken in this process and for this, phone numbers should be issued, on which aware citizens could give information about overloading and violation of road safety. HE said the '112' service should also be connected with this work.
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Transport Dayashankar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister SP Goyal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Home and Information Sanjay Prasad, Acting Director General of Police DS Chauhan, Principal Secretary (Transport) L Venkateshwarlu and other senior officers were present in the meeting.