Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 30 Dec: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today issued firm directives to the officials to ensure robust arrangements for the convenience, safety, and accessibility of the tourists in view of the New Year festivities. The CM issued these directions during a review meeting held at the Secretariat today to discuss traffic and law & order situation, with a particular focus on New Year festivities.
During the meeting, the CM stressed that while security checks are necessary, the public and visitors must not face undue harassment, he placed special emphasis on traffic management, night patrolling, and the removal of encroachments, along with directives for cleanliness drives, plastic-free initiatives, and smooth winter pilgrimage management across Uttarakhand.
Dhami further instructed that particular attention be given to traffic flow between 30 December 2025 and 5 January 2026. He stated that alongside maintaining law and order, it must also be ensured that tourists and visitors encounter no undue inconvenience. He ordered regular night patrols by the police and directed senior officers to conduct periodic field inspections to strengthen law & order and traffic systems. Making his stance clear, the CM warned that those attempting to disrupt peace or play with the law would face strict action.
The CM also instructed that the state’s law & order machinery must remain alert and efficient, asserting that those committing criminal acts in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand must not be spared. He directed adequate security arrangements at the major tourist destinations, high-traffic zones, and the crowded areas. For the New Year period, all the districts have been asked to ensure proper traffic management, basic amenities, and parking facilities. He also directed special monitoring to be undertaken against reckless driving and drunken-driving, with enhanced vigilance around liquor vends. He reiterated that the safety, convenience and hospitality of tourists must be prioritised, while at the same time, ensuring that the public is not hassled in the name of checking.
Addressing urban concerns, Dhami also ordered strict removal of encroachments on roads in Dehradun. He directed the district administration, the municipal corporation, the police, the transport department and MDDA to form task forces for continuous removal of roadside encroachments, and a similar action be also taken in other districts facing such issues. He ordered inspections of fire safety and other essential arrangements in the hotels and the resorts located in crowded areas and emphasised that the police must be efficient enough to reach any incident site within five minutes.
Dhami further stated that all the arrangements should remain smooth during the winter pilgrimage season. He ordered proper management of information centres for the convenience of tourists and mandated sufficient street lighting and bonfires to combat the winter cold. On sanitation, he called for special attention to cleanliness and the launch of a campaign to make the state plastic-free, urging cooperation from social, political, and religious organisations as well as the general public.
Among those present at the meeting were Vice Chairman of the Infrastructure Monitoring Council Vishwas Dawar, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, DGP Deepam Seth, Principal Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretaries Shailesh Bagoli, Dr Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Garhwal Commissioner and Secretary Vinay Shankar Pandey, Dhiraj Garbyal, ADG V Murugesan, IG, Garhwal, Rajiv Swaroop, District Magistrate, Dehradun, Savin Bansal, IG-Kumaon Ridhim Agarwal, along with other District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police, who joined the meeting virtually.
