By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 22 May: Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar today chaired a meeting at the State Police Headquarters to review the arrangements for traffic and pilgrim movement related to the Char Dham Yatra.
Thereafter, the following instructions were given by him in this regard. He made it clear that when the traffic pressure increases during the Char Dham Yatra, the traffic holding areas and the halting points identified for the pilgrims should be inspected. He stressed that these holding points should be near to some main towns or inhabitations so that the pilgrims can get access to food, toilets, water and accommodation facilities and other essential items.
Kumar asserted that in the holding areas where the devotees have been stopped, the duration of their stay and the time of opening of the road should be fixed, and this information should be continuously provided to the devotees through Public Address (PA) system.
He added that a gate system should be set up for controlled movement of devotees and vehicles on the Char Dham Yatra route, so that the crowd of devotees in the four Dhams does not exceed the capacity.
He also stated that the traffic plan for Char Dham Yatra should be publicised as much as possible, so that the devotees coming to visit the Dhams do not face any undue inconvenience.
The DGP directed the Police Chiefs of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag that, once in the temple premises, the Police will ensure continued assessment of crowds vis-à-vis the capacity of the shrines for the darshan. He also directed them to ensure continuous assessment of the parking space and holding capacity of devotees on the yatra route.
He emphasised that a slot system should be set up in the temple premises for the devotees or a system of tokens so that long queues are not formed, and the crowd can be controlled.
A decision was also taken to fix the timing of movement of horses and mules operating at Kedarnath and Yamunotri Dhams. The DGP also directed strict legal action against any travel agency, drivers and others bringing pilgrims without due registrations or on dates other than the scheduled dates of travel. He also said that the radius of 50 metres of the temple premises at each Dham should be reserved only for the devotees who had darshan and instructions were given to take strict action as per rules against the people making reels (shooting videos) and social media content in the temple premises.
It was further made clear that inflow of devotees to Chardham would be ensured only after assessing the outflow of devotees and their vehicles at Srinagar, Chamba, Bhadrakali, Vikasnagar barriers on the Chardham Yatra route. It was felt that there is a need to build sheds for the devotees on the Kedarnath and Yamunotri routes. Senior police officers were also directed to visit the Dhams and the Yatra routes to oversee the arrangements for Chardham Yatra from time to time.
Those present at the meeting included Additional Director General of Police, Administration, Amit Sinha. ADG Crime & Law AP Anshuman, Director, Traffic, Mukhtar Mohsin, IG Arun Mohan Joshi, IG Rajeev Swaroop and IG Senthil Abdai Krishna Raj.
