Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 28 Jul: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today directed officials to ensure comprehensive arrangements at major religious shrines across Uttarakhand in view of the rising influx of devotees. He also made a special mention of some prominent temples while issuing the directions including Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi temples in Haridwar, Purnagiri Dham in Tanakpur, Kainchi Dham in Nainital, Jageshwar Temple in Almora, and Neelkanth Mahadev Temple in Pauri, and several other well-known places of worship.
Dhami stressed on the need for robust crowd management measures, mandatory registration of pilgrims, widening of footpaths and stairways, elimination of encroachments, and provision of essential amenities. He added that these measures would be critical to ensuring a secure and seamless pilgrimage experience for all devotees.
It may be recalled that, yesterday, 8 people had died in a stampede at Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar.
To implement these directives, the CM also directed the constitution of a committee to be jointly chaired by the Commissioners of Kumaon and Garhwal divisions for this purpose. This committee will comprise the District Magistrates (DMs), Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs), Vice-Chairpersons of District Development Authorities, and representatives from executing agencies in the respective districts.
Dhami laid special emphasis on the planned redevelopment of Mansa Devi temple complex and other major temple premises, with focus on enhancing their carrying capacity and instituting structured management of commercial shops. Dhami instructed that the Darshan arrangement for devotees be fortified, made more systematic and accessible. He also mandated compulsory pilgrim registration and a phased viewing system to control crowd movement and minimise inconvenience.
Among those present at the meeting included Principal Secretaries RK Sudhanshu and R Meenakshi Sundaram; Secretaries Shailesh Bagoli and SN Pandey; Secretary and Commissioner, Garhwal, Vinay Shankar Pandey; Additional Director General of Police (ADG) AP Anshuman; Special Secretary Dr Parag Madhukar Dhakate and Additional Secretary and VC, MDDA, Banshidhar Tiwari.
